Dreamy
by hugoGrant
Summary: Petra and Levi thought they understood the world they were in, but found that their dreamy reality was dreamier than imagined. M rating for language only, and barely. Other characters are mentioned.
1. Adoption

The orphanage was as one would expect. The children were lonely and showed loneliness through rebellion, the adults were busy and showed business through ignorance and the rest of the world turned a blind eye and showed their blindness through the perpetually drying funds their aid supplied.

The building itself suggested a less blind, more love-filled and caring era. The building was spacious and accommodated everybody quite comfortably. Unfortunately (for most of the orphans), this meant more cleaning and larger chores. But the Gothic exterior and aged but functional interior were home to many and nobody had an alternative.

Today, however, was a day Levi had come to expect the least. Somebody was looking for a child to adopt. This was the first potential adoption in all of Levi's memory. There was an old man and a young girl. The girl must have been about his age, Levi surmised, and wondered if she had had to give somebody up for adoption. Despite his hopes, even his generation had stupider elements. But the father did not look angry. It would be bad if the father was not the girl's father, but the father of that poor victim of the house he grew up in.

Then, against all his imaginings, Levi found that the father was a candidate foster parent and the girl would be a foster sister.

Petra had a different take on the day. To her, she was watching a home invasion and did not have the power to stop it. She tried. She wheedled, she begged, she screamed, she cried, she argued, she ranted, she complained, but worst of all, she understood. It was her father's decision to make and she agreed that the recently emptied third seat looked odd at the dinner table. But a sibling would not replace her mother.

She let the invasion happen merely because she knew her father needed it. She knew that she had failed, that in her eyes he saw his wife and in her occasional tears or uncontrollable brooding stares he felt empathy, but she did not need another human being sharing all that was hers to symbolize that. But Peter Ral thought it would help, and that was how things tended to happen.

"Missy here isn't convinced about adoption." Peter said to some suited person as they sat in a small, red-bricked and dimly lit conference room. All three sat down as the suited man observed Petra.

"How so?" The man asked, concluding his inspection and not at all surprised.

"Surely you know." Petra grumbled. "With the line of waiting foster parents outside."

"Know thine enemy, they say. What aren't you convinced about?"

"It's not so much as not convinced – I'm sure your system is quite effective – as it is that I don't want it to happen."

Folding his lip downward, condescendingly seeming impressed by Petra's rationality, the man nodded and said: "I can't do anything about that."

Peter nodded. "Walk me through the process though – I have never had to do this."

"Of course. Today you get to meet everybody. We'll narrow down the list and you get to do the final winnowing. Once that is done, you get paperwork and then a child."

"Is there anything special if there's a sibling involved?"

"Paperwork and a pamphlet."

"The perfect system." Petra grumbled.

"Well, for the first parameter: do you have a gender preference?" The man ignored Petra deftly.

"Not really."

"Age?"

"Becoming a year ten next year."

"Is that her age?" The man indicated Petra.

"Yes."

"I see." The man turned to leave. "Please wait a minute." He returned with a laptop and unfolded it. "I just have to pull up our roster." The man typed away, clicked and the stared at the screen. "Only three people meet the criterion."

"Any girls?" Petra asked, allowing a small amount of hope in her voice.

"Three boys." Petra frowned.

"So, now what?" Peter asked with some enthusiasm.

"Well, you meet them. They'll come down here and present themselves."

"Present?" Petra snorted, wondering how the poor orphans would manage that feat.

"Yeah, they'll have something short to say, and we'll move from there."

In two minutes, the first candidate boy came down. After a rhetorically weak whine of a speech: some general "I'll be good, I swear" combined with a "I'll do the dishes" and many other things, the boy left. Petra stared at her father and smiled a small bit when he nodded a no.

A minute later the next boy walked in. He also drawled in a similar way. Levi stood outside and felt better in knowing that the unfortunate family only had to deal with three orphans. This friend's prattling would probably earn him the house – Levi knew to expect that unpredictability from most people.

The boy walked out and Levi's eyes followed him. "I sense a pattern." He heard as he waited the required minute.

Levi entered after a minute. "Name's Levi." He mumbled. Then he stood there.

"Don't you have more to say?" Petra prompted, a few seconds in. "Aren't you a clean freak or professional at dishes? And wouldn't you just love to leave this place?"

"As a matter of fact, no. I think I don't know how family works and I really don't want to know."

"Why not?" Peter said.

"My only family rejected me, so I guess I did something."

"I think they did." Peter said.

"So, you're willing to experiment?" Levi mused.

"I think you'll be fine."

"It will take effort."

"You're honest, you don't make promises you won't keep, you know your weaknesses, so I think you'll do very well." Peter smiled. "What do you think, Petra?"

"Also the only person we talked to." Petra said. "I don't mind much."

"The fallacy of pretending not to care." Levi mumbled.

"Hey! I'd be your sister, so you'd best not start by antagonizing me. Besides, I have reasons."

"Look at you two! Arguing already!" Peter joked.

"Should I tell the office that you've seen all of us?" Levi said.

"And we have a decision, right?" Petra shrugged as Peter looked at her to corroborate his statement. "Yes, tell them that."

Levi left, with a slight skip in his step despite his previous words.

Paperwork, Peter Ral quickly learned, was the bane of all existence. Humans were not designed to tabulate data onto papers or check boxes about their lives or summarize the specifics into a short blank. Yet, that was paper work. It was the false assertion that a life could be converted to a piece of paper, that the tone of the checked words did not matter, only the denotation did.

After a short miracle and a fortnight, Peter Ral was back at the orphanage and submitted the papers. In return, he quickly got Levi. That did, however, mean the Petra could not be there – she was at school. She was only informed of the presence of her new brother through a text message.

That afternoon, therefore, she was not pleased. She practically stormed into the house and sighed. "Hello." Levi said, noticing his new sister's entry.

"Do you start school tomorrow?" She sighed.

"Yes."

"I'll have to show you the bus. Did you get a uniform?"

"Yes."

Petra smirked. "Welcome to normal."

"Thanks."

It was that night that Petra knew that in her welcoming, she lost normal. Tucked in and reading, she was surprised to hear a knock on her door. She looked up, sure that the entry was open, and found Levi. She sighed, reminded of her changed reality.

"I wanted to talk." Levi said.

"About what?"

"Your attitude. I was wondering if there was anything I could do to-"

"I think it's obvious."

"Besides that."

"Not that I know."

"Do you even… hate me?"

"I'm uncomfortable."

"What?"

"You're the first boy to ever be there." Petra's eyes indicated the square foot Levi's feet occupied. "And I have to live with you. I don't like feeling forced into it."

"I'm sorry."

"Really? You don't have to be."

"Then who does?"

"Nobody. It'll all be better when you and I get to know each other."

"How would you-"

"Conversations. We'll be living practically the same lives, so you'll see a lot of me. If you want anything quicker, I'm open to suggestions."

"I don't know people."

Petra smirked. "That other hurdle."

After a silence, Levi said: "good night. And thank you for… trying." Levi fumbled to find the perfect diction.

"Anything for my dear brother." Petra sliced with her words. "See you tomorrow."

 **(And so begins a new fic...**

 **I'll be publishing this in multi-chapter parts.**

 **Have fun!)**


	2. The Shaping of Hot Iron

Petra was surprised to find Levi down with a cup of milk and some toast and ready to leave the next morning. "Probably more organized than the other guys." Petra quipped.

"I will never know."

"The bus comes in fifteen and I'll show you to the office."

"Thanks."

After a brief breakfast, the two headed outside. It was a short walk from their residential avenue to a slightly more active high street. On the high street, the bus would come to pick them up.

The stop was a regular, public bus stop. There were timetables for all the local routes, a small metal and glass shelter that formed the waiting area and a board for advertisements. Behind this, across some narrow pavement, was a small newsagent's. The store opened at the hour to accommodate the few students who bothered to buy a pack of Smarties or Randoms to fill their days with some more sugar. The one time a student bought a newspaper was to test their new illicit lighter.

Levi did not know as much of this history – in fact any of it, unlike Petra. On that day, they two were the first of the few rowdy students that waiting in front of the newsagent's on one end of the high street.

They stood in silence – a silence both knew they would grow to be comfortable with. Levi knew he would soon know every crack on the few tiles around him. Petra seemed to already be very enlightened on that theme.

After five minutes, the rest and the rowdier of the group came along. They walked from the opposite end of the town, from the apartments they tormented.

"Hey, ginge, who's the midge?" A tall curly-haired brunette said. Levi looked and was dismayed to find that everybody in the new group wore the same uniform as he – the white shirt, brown coat and green and silver tie.

"Ethan, you know she's Petra." A meeker, and shorter, auburn haired accomplice said.

"What? You fancy her?" The auburn haired backed down. "She's ginge, alright?"

"Whoever I am to you, you might as well ask midge himself who he is." Petra cut into the conversation.

"Alright then: midget, what's your name?" Levi looked up. "You deaf?"

"Levi." Levi said.

"What? Like the jean brand?" The third boy – a blonde also with curly hair of the same height as the auburn haired person asked. Levi shrugged.

"You new?" The leader, or the tallest who seemed to take that role, asked. Levi nodded. "And you think you're cool or something?" Levi shrugged. "Am I not worth words, your highness?" The tallest caustically sneered, hoping to elicit a response. Levi nodded, instead, and, unfortunately, not negatively. Everybody but the tallest gulped. "I propose a challenge." The tallest said, in an air of sanctimonious pride. "I fight you and if I win, you talk, if I lose, I call you 'your highness' all the time. Sound fair?" Levi wavered in a brief consideration of all his experience and all he knew about his environment. Cursing his social ineptitude inwardly, he nodded the manly affirmative.

With that, the tallest pounced. Levi threw a punch, surprised by the velocity of the assailant. The flail was entirely useless as the momentum of the heavier and stronger boy sent Levi down. Winded, Levi was not ready for the series of punches and kicks that followed. "That will teach you!" The victorious cried over his swinging fists, unleashing some unjustified anger that his miserable life caused a great accumulation of.

Petra stepped over a few seconds in, sending a kick at Ethan's ribs. Ethan fell over and Petra pinned him down with a foot – more symbolically than to actually keep Ethan down. "When you Neanderthals are quite finished, I'd love for you to leave my brother alone." She said, in a dangerous tone understating all the anger behind it.

Ethan gulped, though he would live to deny that fact. Petra let him go as he mustered the courage to ask: "so, does that mean I win?"

Petra looked at Levi. Gazing back at Ethan, she said: "We'll call it a draw."

Ethan nodded. The trio stepped away as Petra offered Levi a hand. "… She's dangerous…" He could have sworn to have overheard from a murmur from the others.

The bus arrived a few minutes later. Petra and Levi boarded after the trio and the bus swiftly set off. The simplicity was unexpected. It was obvious that the bus was a standard TfT (Transport for Trost) double-decker bus. The exterior was the default green bottom and white top with the paper identifier being only slightly altered to indicate that the bus was for a school. On the sides, adverts also hung. It was just a bus, Levi was dismayed to find.

Meeting his freshly lowered expectations, the bus' interior was blue with yellow railings sprouting at odd locations. The green seats began behind the staircase to the upper deck, which cut above the driver's large cubicle. The seats were in rows of two on either side of a narrow aisle. The aisle rose at the end to fit the form of the bus. The upper deck, which Petra was quick to choose, opened to a similar layout, except where the stairs cut out of the ground. Petra sat in the middle of the bus, taking the window and gazing out.

"Why not take the front?" Levi asked.

"More hooligans will take it up soon." Levi nodded. "You'd best stick with me if you don't want any more bruises."

"I thought you didn't like me."

"I said I had to adjust." Petra turned to look at Levi who had sat in the seat next to her. "And you'll need help at the rate at which you're going."

"Sorry about that."

"Misunderstanding me or the others?"

"Both."

"I can forgive you, but that would be useless. You'll need to learn to handle people." Levi nodded. "Were you like this at the orphanage?"

"Everybody ignored me from a young age." Petra frowned and nodded, understanding and concerned at the same time. After a pause, during which Petra turned back to the window, Levi asked: "I know you don't want to talk about this, but just for my understanding: how do you feel about me?"

"It's weird that you're so concerned."

"I'm sure that you're the best chance I have at a friend in this place."

Petra gave Levi a concerned look that was bewildered in its mock amusement. "I'm your sister."

"But you could end up hating me."

Petra sighed in dismay. "I don't know you, that's all. You see, I'm mercurial right now and at some point, the attitudes will cool down. You and circumstances control what I'll cool down to."

"So I have to mould your attitude towards me?"

"That's generally how it works." Levi opened his mouth and shut it. "At least now, you have a fair shot."

"Thank you."

"Also, don't worry yourself about it. I find you odd enough. Once we know each other's interests and have genuine conversations about those, we will know how our interactions are fated to be."

"I like biology." Petra turned to make eye contact.

"Weirdo."

"What?"

"I'm kidding. I like…" Petra mused. "I like history."

"And you think I'm weird."

Petra smirked. "What about bio do you like?"

"The human body – it's so complex and interesting, but so common, yet we don't understand it." Petra nodded, satisfied by that response's detail. "What about history do you like?"

"How people interacted."

"More like sociology?"

"I may try some of that stuff later, because there's nothing on it at school."

"How is school?"

"Fine – not too hard, the people are alright, the teachers are fine, the campus is fun and schools lunches are alright as well."

"Sounds average."

"It's hard to characterize the mundane."

After a brief, decreasingly silent ride, the bus reached the campus.

There was a curve next off the main street – Maria Street – that enclosed all the busses (a total of six, Levi counted) and had an exit to the parking lot. From the curve, behind a hedge, the campus sprawled its small plot. Two two-floored buildings filled the fields. Petra pointed out that the larger one formed the classrooms and the smaller had the offices.

First, they entered the offices, as Petra guided Levi, explaining the basic room numbering scheme.

"Mr Ackerman?" A bald, old, male teacher queried in reply to Petra's statement, explaining Levi's situation.

"Yes." Levi affirmed.

"Here is your agenda. You will need it for everything. Also, your schedule is at the back. Petra, right?"

"Yes, Mr. Plixis." Petra said.

"Lead him, will you? I think your classes align."

"Alright."

"Have a nice day. Tell me if you have any complaints." Plixis told Levi before turning away.

"Vice-principal Plixis thinks he knows every student's name and most of their classes." Petra said as they walked off.

"Damn."

"He wanted to be a cabbie, so he thinks he can do memorization."

"What?"

"The cabbies in Sina have to memorize every back alley and turn in the city centre and know every corner. He did a presentation on it."

"You guys have form period, good." Levi said, glancing over his classes.

"Come on. Can't leave Shadis waiting."

"Shadis?"

"Form teacher. Middle aged drill sergeant who would kill if he had the chance."

A few seconds later, they rushed into the form room. The room was actually a science room, Shadis actually being a science teacher and teaching in the room.

Form itself was boring – the idea was merely to keep a track of every student and awaken them for the long day. Occasionally, some of the staff graced the morning with an assembly. This morning, as Petra warned Levi, would be one of the more common ones.

Petra too was bored – she hard hardly any friends in her form because she had little in common with them and rarely saw most of them. Rico was one of the few girls she ever spoke to, and that was rare.

Rico, that morning, was engaged in a conversation about a group of people Petra knew of, but did not know. In the end, Petra sat down with Levi at the back of the room, happy that Shadis had grudgingly given up on assigning seats.

Levi was dazed, aware only that he had introduced himself as "um… Levi" to the form group before following a quiet orange blob to the next class – math.

The teacher was a nondescript middle-aged woman who seemed only capable of being a teacher. In any other profession, she would have seemed to be a misfit, but in the school's math wing, she was home. She did make Levi happy in one way: he learned that he was in no way behind compared to the others in his class.

In quiet conversations in the corridors, as the class headed to its next destination as a group, Levi learned of Hange – the chemistry whiz who could not stay silent unless she was catching her breath or threatened with detention.

After that, Levi sat through French, piqued by the genuinely French teacher who also revealed, through her thick accent, that his French was passable, if not good.

After that was a break – a short fifteen minute interval during which Levi met Petra's friends. The group was an odd one, with Hange half in and three other boys of Levi's class that he had not met. Erd was a tall blonde with a quick smile and a deep interest in economics. Gunther was a quiet intellectual pursuing math. Auro was a garrulous short boy, who looked much older than his years, and babbled nonsensically about his passion for art. Levi spent time with the group, clumsily introducing himself before Petra balanced it with her own observations – the most astute of anybody's within the school.

Then came the infamous class between break and lunch. It was mired in infamy only because it was between the two periods of distraction that the students were capable of and therefore, it was the hour during which the least attention was paid.

That hour, for Petra and Levi, was English. The class was studying Macbeth, which Levi knew he would have to catch up on. The teacher was raven-like. Her wrinkled face had black outlines and was topped with the fakest of jet black hair, leading to her ominous appearance. She also croaked. It was a painful, ceaseless croaking on subjects few cared about. It was a pain to hear and a pain to endure as the clock ticked towards lunch.

Lunch entailed the group favourite – tag in the forest. Behind the main building, before the football fields, was a small but dense wood. It was here that the foursome would bully Auro into starting as 'it' and proceed to enjoy their time while attempting to eat. Levi fared fairly well, making up for what his fists lacked in adept and agile feet.

After that, Levi found Petra at their next class (which she was smart enough to show him before lunch). There the two endured hearing Hange being excruciatingly enthusiastic about chemistry. The teacher did not help, being an old man of equal elaborate, loquacious learning.

After that, Levi was happy to be in biology. Mr Smith, the teacher, was one of the vice principals, adding an interesting gravity to the discipline in the classroom. Other than that, Levi was happy to know that his biology education – the one he did care about – would improve.

Then, on the bus back, Levi realized that he was in for a good life.

The day improved as Petra declared, sincerely to his eyes: "I think you'd make a fine brother." And so the molten iron of Petra's attitude cooled into a shape Levi came to like.

 **("It's hard to characterize the mundane." I hate it when characters say stuff that I would like to. Thanks, Petra!**

 **Have fun!)**


	3. The Recurrance

Petra woke up to the electrodes again. She was familiar to the minimalist room. She was, as usual, strapped onto the white bed and listened to the unceasing hum of machinery. The soulless walls and character-deprived door were also, scarily, a part of the immense Deja-vu sensation that drowned her.

"I would say good morning, but you know that this is a dream." An adult said from behind Petra's head.

"What's the plan?" Petra asked, deliberately adding a bored tone.

"You walk about, jump and run and then we chat."

"As always?"

"As always."

"You should pick a more direct way of communicating, you know."

"And I always say…"

"If you're the symbol of my inner inhibitions, you would not be able to tell me about that." Petra tinkered with the theory that this dream adult, a scientist of her father's age, was a symbol of her subconscious. Freud and a few other theorists she had had the fortune to read up on suggested this possibility, and scared by her recurring dream, Petra clung to the scientific fact.

Therefore, mutely, she paced about the small room, measuring her steps in the way she thought her deeper self was. When she jumped, she always tried to break gravity, to prove a point to the apparition of her inner mind. Their chat, as Petra tried to keep it, was the most open, honest conversation imaginable, to the point where Petra exaggerated her hidden self. It was all a dream and she felt, it was her trying to understand herself.

She woke up to reality, as she had many times before, refreshed by her walk and talk. She smiled more easily, laughed and was less brooding. She sprang down the stairs, only reminded of Levi by his bag. It was only his second week in a house, she recalled.

"Morning." She called. Levi grunted, as he had started to recently. "You fine?"

"Yeah."

"You seem bothered by something."

"An odd dream is all."

"Same."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Must be magnetic interference around the house."

"That's your theory?"

"Yeah. Do you have one?"

"Well, I think the content of mine's about me trying to understand my subconscious."

"What's the content?"

"I wake up in a sort of lab room and then some adult asks me to walk, jump and speak."

Levi looked aghast for a few seconds before saying: "That's my dream too."

"I've had it since I was a child…" Petra thought out loud.

"Same."

"What? How?"

"Hell if I know."

"That's so weird."

"Does your dad know?"

"He'll spout some crap – that's what he did when I first told him."

"Like?"

"He told me dreams don't have meaning. He may tell us it's all coincidence."

"It may be."

Outside, in a blank, ubiquitously white corridor, the adult checked off a calendar, sighing, musing and walking down the quiet hall. It was a special Tuesday, but one nonetheless. He preferred it, but only as a boiling carrot must have preferred the pot to a cauldron.

"Well?" Another man generically asked as the adult turned in the corridor, entering a livelier room than the two he had just left. Inside was the anonymous manager, surrounded by a few screens, indicated all the data required. The manager was in a matching lab coat – it marked his profession – and was leaning on a desk, holding his arms to support a small percent of his weight, in a casual expression of unjustifiable comfort.

"Very. Both of them." The adult did not feel up to words, though he knew he was more deserving of the converse: words not feeling down to him.

"Good."

"I still hate you." He tried to apologize to the words.

"Ral does so more."

"But… but it's so beautiful."

"It is what it is, that is what is hard."

"Only 208 more."

"You count?"

"Always have been."

"208… four years, then?"

"Already been 13."

"The computers agree."

"How's their world?"

"Accurately, probably and scarily fine."

"Good to know they're in good hands."

"Very."

"Anything interesting?"

"No. We must just let the clock run down."

"See you later?" The adult walked away, glancing down the corridor, unable to wait the required four years. If only he had not been stupid that day thirteen years ago. Yet, he could have never known, never comprehended, what terrible forces pulled him into that room, that dragged his antiquated pen across the older paper of the calendar every week. Contradictorily, it was the most beautiful thing he had seen: the true interdisciplinary study that his college and other institutions pretended to cater. Computer science, physics, graphics, biology, economics, history and even philosophy played minor roles in that which he was witnessing weekly. But ethics did not play a role at all.

The manager nodded, noting nothing different. He replayed the data and found nothing peculiar. The next phase was to begin, and the next time the man came around, it would be a surprising visit.

Since school was a uniform liquid of boring days, the slow pouring of time barely seemed to make a difference to Levi or Petra. It was only when marks of the sediment of life: the small grains of sand or miniscule specks of dust that were exams and tests passed, that either noticed that time was flowing.

However, Petra was privy to a different sediment – the one in her dreams. She never had the recurrence (that odd lab-involving fantasy) in the same month. Though she could not predict the timing, she knew that they would be separated by around four weeks. Therefore, the week's passing as made abundantly clear when, precisely a week after her dream – the one she revealed to Levi – she was once again in the lab.

"What's the agenda?" She asked, feigning calm.

"I have a few questions."

"Is there something odd in my life?"

"Ours, according to your working theory."

"Well?"

"This Levi bothers me."

"How so?"

"I don't know… he's everywhere."

"So?"

"I don't know…"

"What? You think the two of us fancy him?"

"What? That's outrageous."

"Well, then?"

"You trusted him with me."

"And my life – we sleep under the same roof."

"But still. I'm only yours."

"So? You're mine! I do what I want with you."

"But I don't like it."

"Tough luck!"

"Well, who's in power here?"

"Don't you dare! We'll both be hurt."

"Fine."

"So what about Levi?"

"Don't trust him…"

"Give me a reason, you over-attached freak!"

"He's… new."

"Do what you like. I'm going to be myself around him."

"And he'll stab you in the back."

"He will not. I trust him not to."

"Unwise."

"Caring. Besides, I'm his sister – if he does anything major, he'll what to deal with my father."

"Good point."

"Was that all?"

"You might as well walk and all, since I got you here." The adult began undoing the straps on Petra.

"Fine." Petra rose slowly and paced as she was told to. "He's a nice guy, you know."

"Do you fancy him?"

"I might."

"What?"

"I'll leave the theory open."

"You're kidding me."

"Nope. I'm considering liking him… in that way."

"Get back to reality." He said as Petra sat down after jumping as she was usually required to.

"See you soon?"

"Beats me." Petra dozed back into reality after that, waking up to the middle of the night.

Levi also woke up to the electrodes. "Well?" He said.

"Petra bothers me."

"My life, my problem."

"But she knows about this."

"She suffers it too."

"But she could backstab."

"How?"

"I don't know."

"She's fine. She's pretty much the only person I really trust at school now."

"That is pathetic Levi. Do not."

"I will. She's my sister now."

"You shouldn't tell her about this."

"Why? You're only in a dream."

"That's not what she thinks."

"Her theory her problem."

"Just take my word for it."

"I won't."

"Suit yourself."

"Do I walk and stuff?"

"Might as well." Levi did as he was bid.

"Bye." He said, emerging into reality.

He woke up to the midnight darkness. He groaned and proceeded to inwardly curse himself as the groan echoed about the quiet house. It only took a few seconds for a reaction – too few for both Rals to be sleeping, Levi decided. After a few quieter footsteps, a knock came on the door. "Levi?" A small voice called.

"Yeah?"

"I had that dream."

"Me too."

"That was too soon."

"And another 'coincidence.'"

"That too, my subconscious tried to tell me not to trust you."

"The guy in my dream did as well."

"Evidently both of us decided against trusting him."

"I think that that's good."

"Same."

"But now what?"

"I don't know."

"I'm sure that the adult is not my subconscious – I can keep too many secrets from him."

"Fair enough."

"Otherwise…"

"I don't think there's much more we can say."

"Unless the dream is the real world and this is a dream."

"Don't go all inception on me."

"I was kidding."

"It's too early to be kidding."

"Fair enough."

"Well, good night."

"Good night." Petra left and fell back into a dreamless sleep.

The adult could not face himself. He could not face the manager either. This time it was worse. It was less moral; a bigger deceit; a lower blow. He did not deserve sight of the rows of monitors. He merely opened the door to show his face and then proceeded to leave. "It was a job well done!" The manager called. "The data is amazing." The adult gestured backwards. "Don't deny your curiosity." The finger flailed upwards once more – a repetition of the lewd gesture presented.

 **(I hope this was not too confusing. Some confusion is intended, though.**

 **That concludes the first part, the introduction.**

 **I'll be publishing the next part soon, and can promise no updates to "A Future Life" until then.**

 **Have fun!)**


	4. A Fall

"The determinant of the three by three matrix is found as follows." The teacher drew two vertical bars and wrote the first nine alphabets in between, forming a three-by-three table. "It is the sum of three special products: the top left times the bottom right determinant, the negative middle times the determinant of the matrix of the edges and the top right times the bottom left determinant." As he spoke to the chalkboard, the teacher drew out the matrices. Then, in one quick and impossible to follow step, wrote the sum out in chalk: aei – afh – bdi + bfg + cdh – ceg.

Petra snorted as quietly as possible, thoroughly bored and more confused by her A-level studies in math. She was even more baffled by her decision to take math. Levi was no better off, seated a few seats to her right.

The pair had been under the same roof for nearly four years. They had faced GCSEs and sixth form together and were at the culminating tests. The GCSEs determined their sixth form destination and their secondary school, fortunately, was the region's best for humanities and science and they both got the scores required – Petra beating Levi to her infinite amusement.

Now, they were preparing for college. The A levels were the final hurdle and crossing that, they would apply and then vanish. They would probably separate, but even in merely four years, formed enough of a connection to want to stay in touch and to know that the departure would be teary.

Their father would suffer a worse fate, deprived of both his children in one week in the August that would come too soon.

"This fact is not, as you might think, useless." The teacher droned on. "In fact, this is used in something called the vector cross-product which you will learn in the coming weeks as we explore linear algebra briefly."

At least the recurrence, as the two had come to term their odd and oddly similar dream, was not acting up – the last oddity was that time four years ago when the adult tried to get them to mistrust each other.

Petra's mind wandered on various vectors except to the few the teacher had gone onto a tangent about. She pondered the meaning of her life, the profound decision she made in taking this useless linear algebra course, the irony that she was wasting time in the most important year of her life and that she had grown very close to Levi – closer than she was to her year seven friends.

"Sorry about that. That's all vector stuff you'll see later on. The cross product is really like magic." The teacher went on. "But here's the matrix practice you'll need. I'll give you ten minutes to get a start, but we really must cover row Echelon form at some point today."

Petra straightened up, now professional at pretending to having cared for the entire time.

"I can't believe it's time." The adult said. The room had not changed in four years, or seventeen years, or the eighteen it had had its purpose for. The monitors were precisely the same. The manager's pose was indolent as ever. The scenario, however, was different.

"Neither can I." The manager said.

"And now the months will be the worst."

"I know."

"Good luck sleeping."

"Same."

"See you."

"Finally, you want to."

"The one and only time."

"See you."

"Bye." The adult left, for once happy that he would be returning. He was happy only because his return would be his last. After the next three months, he would leave. He would apologize and say goodbye.

Levi had had a slightly different experience to the one he surmised Petra had over the last year of school.

Levi's year was a steady downward fall. Analysing the "blind bow-boy's butt-shaft" Mercutio found in Romeo in the classic Levi had had to reread for his literature course, he found one in himself. Unfortunately, the legendary shaft struck him as he was at home, meaning the first female he saw after that was his adoptive sister. Legend rang true as he slowly fell in love with her.

He tried to disprove it every day, and on each occasion, his disproof was disproven. She did not notice. She did not need to notice. And Levi was under the impression that she would never deign to notice. Nor would she feign to deign. He would just have to suffer.

At the bottom, which every passing day convinced him was further down than he, Levi decided to tell her. It was outside math that he decided to muster the courage. He planned it the night before, imagining the corridor, the lighting, the windows and worst of all, her reaction. He never knew how he would tell her. He still did not. Worse yet, he had all of math to brood over the scene.

She would still be the beautifully close and understanding companion she was, right? Levi questioned. The worst would be losing her – in even the smallest way. Not only would he lose his greatest companion, he one he literally shared everything with, but his Cupid-made wound would have a salt shaker opened into it.

"Um… Petra." He stuttered, not expecting the lack of control he had over his body at that moment.

"Yeah?" She said, slightly worried because of Levi's tone.

"I- I don't know how to say this-"

"You don't know how to say a lot."

"I'll be brief."

"Just say it? This skirt can't be that hideous, can it?" Petra joked on the lack of a uniform as that 'bottom' Levi thought he had fallen into fell further.

"Quite the opposite – I think I love you."

"I'm – I don't know what to say to that. I'm sorry, I know it must be terrible, but that's all I have. I'll tell you more at home, okay?"

"Wha-"

"I don't know."

"So you don't-"

"I never thought of it."

"You'll-"

"I'll explain later, alright. I've got to rush."

"See you at home." Levi said, dismayed but satisfied at some level by Petra's decency.

The next few hours passed by too slowly for Levi and too quickly for Petra. The quick and slow hours were both less than the number of hours either expected to wait. It was during lunch when they met next, though normally they never met due to Levi's eating habits – he ate away from the school as he did not have to rush back for afternoon classes, unlike Petra, who was forced to dine within the campus due to her course choices. Yet, plagued by his fears and thoroughly dilated time, Levi did not feel up to driving. Therefore, he met Petra in the canteen, two hours and fifteen slow minutes since he revealed his love.

They met in the woods since Petra took to wandering the trees in her free time. Levi found her quickly. "Petra." He called in a volume caught between fear and necessity that he be heard.

She turned quickly and paced over slowly, making up for the fast time that passed over the past two hours. "I have nothing." She said finally.

"It's alright."

"No, it's wrong."

"You can't help it."

"Neither can you."

"But it's my fault."

"So? I owe you an answer, but I have none."

"Maybe you don't love me."

"I'm not sure. I begin to question what it is to love, and I realize I have no idea."

"It's fine."

"No."

There was a sudden sharp snap. Rustling followed as Levi reflexively leapt to Petra, pushing her back. Petra, looking over Levi's shoulder, saw a branch fall where she was standing just before her breath was lightly knocked out of her.

In that second of clarity, of Levi's sudden shuddering proximity, of their soul's propinquity and united desire for both to stay alive, Petra craned her neck forward impulsively. Finding Levi's face less than a foot away from hers, her lips made contact with his lips suddenly.

After a quick kiss, Levi stared at Petra, digging into her hazel pupils to discern some desire or intent in her action. "I think I decided." Came the reply. Levi could only smile. "Though dad will have an interesting time with this."

"Why did you have to time the twig like that?" The manager roared at the young, blonde programmer who sheepishly entered the room.

"Off by one error…"

"But now-"

"They were in love to start with, ok?"

"You don't have to tell me that, but still!"

"I'm sorry, but there is nothing to be done. I would have run tests but you pressured me too much."

"So it's my fault?"

"No. It's just not all mine."

"Then who gets the rest, because somebody is going to have to answer to the director."

"How does it matter?"

"The director said that both of them should lead full, fulfilling lives after this!"

"This will end in a few months anyway, it does not matter."

"I hope you're right."

"I'm sorry."

"Here's what I will do, and the offer is final, ok?" The programmer nodded. "I'll tell the director that it could not be helped and we'll have to hope for the best."

"That would be nice."

"You're welcome. Now leave." The programmer left as the manager sighed. The director was prudent but tried to feign to be ethical, therefore the manager never knew where he stood. Either the director would see a practical application or a moral dilemma. There was, unfortunately, only one way to know. And the manager would have to conduct the meeting in person.

Erwin knew something was off about the case of Dr Ral. Ral and he had worked together in the past, but now Ral was in a mental asylum while his younger subordinate ran into an obscure free life. Yet, the past grew in the corners of Erwin's perfect home, spreading like mould, until, seventeen years later, Erwin simply had to meet Ral.

The trip would be long as the old town of Trost was far from the recently made new London. Luckily, vacuum transit shortened the time to two hours. But Erwin hated the inevitable acceleration. It was a gut-churning leap to the incredible top speed of the underground tube train. He pondered the technology as he saw the vacuum robot in his house. It operated on the same principle. Like a piece of dust, Erwin planned to spend his elongated weekend sucked three hours away in Trost.

Despite the changes in velocity, the trip itself would be pleasant. He missed the city he grew up in. He missed the people, the old walls, the older buildings, the old friends and even the small share of family.

The trip was worth it and on objective analysis, he embarked.

Proving every hypothesis correct, Erwin found the asylum. The building was the plainest of whites, to allow patients with OCD to hate each shadow adding an imperfection on it, to let ADD patients' eyes wander and to let those with schizophrenia know absolutely nothing – it was white merely because it was cheap. Inside, one could find no windows – this time, for a medical reason. Also, the walls were white to conserve costs.

He found Ral quickly as Ral was on good terms with all the staff – he had not threatened to kill them in ten years – a world record for a lunatic – and they worried that he was not actually crazy.

The interior of the room was white – the bed, the sink, the commode and everything but the mirror and the emaciated man were perfectly, crisply and cheaply white.

"Dr Ral?" Erwin gingerly said.

"Erwin? Erwin! My days, you've barely changed."

"Unlike you, professor."

"This place has not been the nicest, as you can see."

"Of course."

"Why the visit?"

"I felt I owed it to an old friend."

"Thank you."

"My pleasure."

"How's your life going?"

"Fine. I started my own research in dreams and spatial creation after leaving the group and I have a house and all now."

"Wife and family?"

"Too busy."

"They help, trust me."

"Speaking of that, where's your daughter?"

"Kidnapped."

"What?"

"The organization faked my papers after Mary died and they sent me here, making sure I saw the kidnapping of Petra."

"They would."

"After killing Mary."

"So that's how they locked you up?"

"Schizoid, they claim; and I cannot stop them."

"That's too unjust."

"The entire thing is too unjust."

"It really should not be able to happen."

"It does."

"Plutocratic."

"Reality."

"I should stop them. I have a clout and I think I can do it."

"If only you could get me out."

"What would that take?"

"Other than some daring escape, a test and then a few signatures."

"How long for the legal way?"

"Fortnight."

"I'll see what's possible."

"You could claim me for your own lab – it would be easier than letting me loose upon the world."

"Fair point, but I'll need funds."

"Just claim that schizophrenia is related to dreaming in some sense."

"It is."

"Then, you have it."

"And Reiss may finally fall."

"Patience. Get me out of here first."

 **(And so begins the second part, with a thicker plot and more characters.**

 **I hope you like it. Remember, it is intentionally confusing, but feel free to ask for any details.**

 **This was somewhat of a bridge, you'll probably prefer the next chapter.**

 **Have fun!)**


	5. Waking Up

Levi and Petra struggled in their new relationship. Peter Ral was against it, unexpectedly. He argued that it was desperate and that they did not know what love was. Even in the recurrence, the adult was against their union. But "love is not love which alters when it alteration finds," Shakespeare's 116th Sonnet told the couple. Therefore, the two strove to stay together, and succeeded in secret.

Their friends also opposed their union, though on seemingly fake grounds. That only meant that the couple avoided their friends or pretended badly not to be in love.

Nobody else could have conceivably known, therefore the two were ignored by teachers and other ignorant adults around them. Yet, such was life and the couple found happiness in each other and clung to that while pretending to have called the relationship off. They stole kisses in secret and shot smiles in public, but never did they talk of dinners or other romantic joys they both desired.

Rod Reiss was a jaded man. He pretended to be busy by pretending to be busy, and he always lacked enough time.

Therefore, like every overly rich person, he desired to live forever. He spent money on a science team and waited 34 years of his life to see the fruits of their labour. Luckily, he lived for that much time, though he had always feared not lasting the required research decades.

Now, oddly, so close to the culmination, was a glitch. There was a minor bug – the subjects had fallen in love – but that was no hindrance. The real issue came to his desk. It was an innocent question at the face of it, but deeper down, it was ominous.

 _Dear Mr. Reiss,_

 _Interested in her wonderful research, we were wondering where we could find Dr Mary Ral. We are aware that she may not be with you currently, but know from documentation (copies of which you will find attached) that she had previously worked for you._

 _Is she still with your research group? Where may we find her? May we take up some of her time?_

 _Thank you,_

 _Dream-connaissance Research Group, New London._

The documents attached were fully official. There were tax forms and other employment certificates that were undeniable and difficult to forge.

Reiss immediately asked a secretary to research this "Dream-connaissance" group. He was too busy pretending to be occupied.

The fact was that she was dead. That was why, seventeen years ago, the paper trail ended. There were no certificates of her demise, but she was dead and therefore, her time could not be taken up.

The lack of documentation did open up a new possibility – the group could pretend to have fired her. Then they would not be responsible for her (non-existent) whereabouts. It was that they settled on once the secretary revealed that the "Dream-connaissance" group was legitimate.

"You were right." Erwin said, reading this reply on his visor.

"They said that she was fired, right?" The living Dr Ral asked.

"And they faked documents."

"Just as I thought."

"How will we get your daughter?"

"I would like to speak with Reiss. I'm sure he'll recognize me."

"Isn't that bad?"

"I'll assume a fake identity and scare him."

"How would that help your daughter?"

"I doubt it would, but we'll need to test the waters."

Erwin nodded, reminded of the genius of his old employer. "And then we can try to bring them down."

"Eventually. Doing it through the law would be difficult, if not impossible."

"Of course. They have protections."

"And much more money."

"We could rescue your daughter in another way."

"She's been kidnapped once, I'm not letting that happen again."

"What do we do then?"

"Go through with the meeting. I'd love to see Reiss seeing a ghost."

"Same."

"You'll also need a mask."

"That's not difficult."

Reiss had only continued the research to find a product to sell, to be able to fund other research. It was an attempt to live forever, but despite the treatment, the patients aged as usual. Thus, reading a meeting request from another research firm, he was happy and after verifying its legitimacy, he invited the two founders to a dinner in his penthouse.

The arrangements were made by his staff – he was too busy. He would speak, because he owed the group another chance at his longevity.

The penthouse was precisely as anybody would imagine the modern penthouse to be – it was above the clouds at 400 feet in the air and had a view of a seemingly short city around it, where buildings were the parts that poked above the clouds. The room was minimalist and surrounded by glass everywhere – including the elevator that was required. The floor was marbled as a nod to the older times. The wooden table was empty as Ral and Erwin entered. They met Reiss who indicated the other two wood and metal stool-like chairs that the time considered fashionable.

"Hello, Wren brothers, and welcome."

"Good evening Mr Reiss. We would be honoured if you called me Peter and my younger brother here Erwin." Ral said.

"Of course, feel free to call me Rod."

"Thank you very much. As you know, we came on business and hope that you would allow us to help you with research." Erwin added.

"And as you know, I would love this."

"Sure. We would like the details of the research, of course." Ral said.

"Absolutely." Reiss sent both of them the file. "In summary, the idea is to share dreams."

"That sounds amazing. What would we be researching?" Erwin said, already knowing this much.

"More on the world design and those kind of opportunities."

"You have successful dream designing?" Ral asked, surprised because his knowledge was largely obsolete.

"So far. We need more definitive testing."

"Of course." Erwin said.

"Pardon me for asking, but would we be required to find volunteers?" Ral queried.

"Not to worry, we'll provide." There was a hidden implication in Reiss' statement.

"Thank you." Erwin replied, asking in addition: "how much would this be?"

"Depends on what you offer." Reiss replied.

After this, the false business deal continued as Ral and Erwin pretended to be the Wren brothers. The conversation covered all of the latest dream technology and other updates Ral missed out on due to his captivity.

The dinner ended in a quick, though expensive salad. It was customary to serve a salad for the first meeting because it was neutral and there were ways to make it cost enough for bragging rights.

Ral and Erwin left satisfied that it would be difficult to rescue Petra. They knew that Petra would be the "volunteer" Reiss was willing to offer. She was literally a slave and completely forgotten by the system.

Reiss would have to stop, at the minimum. The best conclusion would be his death. "So, now what?" Erwin said as the two took a tube train back to their hotel.

"We have to sneak in to get Petra. I hate this. I hope she'll understand."

"Remember when we used to take this train from work?" Erwin asked after a pause.

"Was it this one?"

"The same line."

"Back when I had a family to return to."

"In a way, you're returning to them."

"You always have to do your best, you know. This is the best I can do for Petra."

"I always wish I had a family."

"Your fault, you know."

"It is what it is."

"Thank you for this."

"I helped him get here, now I destroy him."

"Good."

The two exited at a station and entered their hotel. They were soon in their room and prepared for the night.

Reiss had a sense of Déjà vu. The two he had just served felt infinitely familiar, yet he could not place them. If they were scientists, they would have been working for him. He searched his files, sure that all the scientists who left him were dead.

He scoured his files. Peter Ral and Erwin Smith. They did not even bother to change their first names. He looked both their names up. Erwin was with the Dream-connaisance and Ral was supposedly in an insane asylum.

He searched more deeply. The two had worked together and Ral's daughter was a subject. Furthermore, Erwin had had Ral transferred from the asylum on the grounds of schizophrenia research.

He now had enemies. Suddenly, he was a busier man. Despite his full schedule, he would have to scheme against two of his old employees. He would have to craft a plan and execute it.

As a first attempt, he tried to have the two men killed. They could not be found within the city.

Attempt two: he had both their houses searched. The mission was set and from the New London office, a nondescript and ominous black hover-van floated out. Conveniently, he found that they shared a roof.

He did not sleep that night as that mission continued. In parallel, he had the two subjects awoken. The plan was simple: he would mobilize the daughter against the father.

The adult was overjoyed. The day of his independence was moved six weeks ahead. Delicately, he opened a room door. A few minutes later, he wheeled out a gurney and moved it into the other room.

Levi and Petra woke up to the electrodes once more, but this time they saw each other.

"Good morning you two, and welcome to the real world." The jovial adult said.

 **(... that escalated quickly.)**


	6. The Real World

"The real world?" Petra spoke first.

"Your reality was a dream." The adult said.

Petra smirked. "Prove it."

The adult grinned. "It's simple really – you've never seen me other than in this place, therefore this cannot be the dream." Both Levi and Petra knew of this research – that dreamt up faces were figments of real ones.

"Really?" Levi asked.

"This is everybody you've seen." A projector projected a grid of faces, most of which gave Levi a sense of Déjà vu as he recognized every face to some extent.

"And me?"

"Your list is exactly the same."

"What?"

"We controlled the dream."

"Now, I wouldn't have dreamt that up." Petra said, half-jokingly.

"Well and the technology here is the more advanced." Levi said.

"So?"

"I know I could not imagine facial recognition at this level."

"So this must be real, then?"

"But both times I felt like the main character."

"You mean the conscious one, right? I feel the same way."

"But how?"

"We are testing a way of having two people in the same dream." The adult said.

"So then is that why we were lied to?" Petra said.

"Yes."

Noting the lack of restraints, Petra leapt up, pinning the man against the wall in a swift, terrifying motion. "Why?" Petra snarled. "Why would anybody do something like that?"

"I did it for science."

"Science? What of ethics, you heartless shit!"

Levi was still unsure of how to react, therefore did not know what to do as Petra continued her outburst. "I tried. I didn't know that they would do this, but they put a gun to my head."

"They?"

"Reiss - a billionaire who wants more of everything."

"Then why tell us?"

"You look too much like Mary. Too much for me to want to kill you."

"Kill?"

"That's what would probably happen to you over time. They'll use the two of you for tests and it would only take one failure." Petra's grip on the man loosened. "I'm sorry for this, but I promise that I won't do something like this again."

"You had better not."

"Where is Mr Ral?" Levi said, finally having decided how to act.

"Peter?" The adult asked.

"Yes, my father." Petra said, adding another dimension to Levi's query.

"I do not know." The adult sighed. "Here's what happened seventeen years ago: Mary – your mother – died in an initial test. Then, your father tried to leave but was coerced legally into a mental asylum. You were kidnapped, as was Levi, and then put to sleep in the fake reality we had prepared for second tests. Once we realized that your aging had not altered – that was the primary purpose of your sedation – we decided to try to merge your dreams. It was nice that it worked so well."

"So well that you convinced us of a lie, let us waste our first seventeen years and now will have us in bondage until I would be fortunate enough to die as my mother did." Petra was still vexed.

"I'm sorry, I did not know about your kidnapping and Peter's predicament until a few years into this and I tried to leave, but they threatened me with the same."

"I can't blame you."

"But now you're stuck with your fate."

"How so?"

"In two minutes, they will come in here and dismiss me. Then they will prepare you two for the Guinea pig life."

"What until then?"

"I warn you: don't trust them."

"Who to trust?" Levi asked.

"Only Peter."

"Why only him?" Levi added.

"He's the only one who I know will care for Petra. And since you're her boyfriend, he'll care about you as well."

"You were against that." Petra pointedly pointed out.

"Only to fill Reiss' coffers."

"You asshole."

"Sorry." There was a knock on the door. "Come in." The adult called. The manager entered and held the cuff of the adult's shirt. From inside, he pulled out a small black chip. The adult's eyes widened in horror.

"Now, kids, you learn the consequences of betrayal." The manager menacingly murmured.

"Remember what I said." The adult said as the manager pulled out a small pistol. The shot was barely audible. The adult fell as blood pooled about a neat incision on his head, covered by his grey hair.

"Point taken." Petra said, more angered than fearful.

"Good, because if you act up, not only do you die, but so does he and your father." The 'he' was Levi who had folded into his knees and was terrified of what would be.

Petra's lip quivered. "Now what, slave master."

"Get into these clothes and come up to the lab. Just take a left as you leave here. We'll brief you." The manager pulled out a bag from behind the door and tossed it onto Levi's bed. "Take your time." The manager slammed the door for effect, sighed and left.

Petra also sighed inside the room. She noted happily that the dead man looked peaceful in his repose and that neither of them had joined him. She did also take his words seriously – if his words had not been detrimental, had he not helped, he would have still lived.

Petra turned to the bag on the bed. Wordlessly, she took her new clothes, noting that this future did not bring about huge changes in fashion. Quickly, she threw off the plain, white gown they had left her in and donned the t-shirt and shorts. Somehow, they understood her tastes in garment. She wondered how she had any under clothes on, but decided against pondering that more deeply.

Dressed, she sat next to Levi. Putting her arms around his waist, she leaned onto him. "We're still fine." She softly said.

"We'll die soon." He quietly replied.

"Not on my watch."

"How?" Levi asked. Petra rose and found the black chip. She kicked it out, into the corridor. She proceeded to inspect her clothing. She then checked Levi's. Levi check the beds and gowns. Quickly, he changed his clothing as a part of the search. A total of five chips were kicked out.

"We escape." Petra revealed, leaning back onto Levi.

"But we know nothing about this world."

"So?"

"It would be hard."

"I'd rather that than stay in here."

"What if we stay for a while?"

"How long?"

"Long enough to know how to escape."

"Of course."

"But what then?"

"We'll have to hide and I feel obliged to take this corruption down."

"I love you." Levi said, kissing her.

"Love you more."

"Should we go?"

"Sure." Petra said, looking about the room. "But, before that…" She trailed off in thought as she bent over the dead man and proceeded to ransack his pockets.

She found his visor and proceeded to put it on. "I know you are not the owner. Would you like to report this as found to the owner or report some calamity that has befallen them?" A dialog read.

Petra's eyed darted over the second and it was selected. It was a user-interface she knew she could get used to. "Please explain the calamity."

Petra glanced about the keyboard that materialized. "HE IS DEAD." She managed to quickly type, noting that the qwerty standard had not changed and thankful that her dream was set in a time with computers.

"Would you like to report this to the police?" She had selected 'yes' without a thought. "Levi, I think I have it." She said, once her subconscious decision registered.

"What?"

"I called the police."

"Shit!"

"What?"

"I think they know we're up to something now."

"It's fine."

"How?"

"Follow me." Petra opened the room door and threw the recording chips down the corridor and ran in the opposite direction. Levi followed her, noting that they were running away from the manager's room.

In front of them, a grey door revealed a stair case. Petra entered without hesitation. Levi followed and they began to climb as Petra read that they were underground.

They stopped at ground level. Petra was panting as Levi took the last two steps. "Now?" He said in a ragged exhalation.

Petra tried the door and found it locked. "Up." She said, darting up more stairs.

"Petra, wait!" Levi called.

"What?"

"It's a skyscraper and they've locked all these doors. We're probably trapped here."

"They probably did it centrally."

"Yeah."

"Shit."

"Now we wait to die."

"Levi!"

"What?"

"Have hope."

"For what?"

"If we make it up, there may be an escape."

"And if there's not?"

"We won't know if we don't try." Petra said, running upwards once more. Levi sighed and followed.

It took five minutes for them to reach the top floor, because Levi was wrong about the height of the building.

"That's that, then?" Levi said.

Petra sighed. "Wait."

"What?"

"This door is closed by some electromagnet."

"What?"

"That's what that white block is, right?" Petra pointed to a white block at the top left of the door.

"So?"

"If we break it…"

"How?"

Petra looked about the landing. There was, thanks to some unfathomable luck, a crowbar in a corner. Maybe some contractor left it from an unfinished job.

It took Petra three swings to incapacitate the small solenoid. It was a minor miracle, to the point where Petra began questioning how many layers this one, complex dream happened to have. She swung the door open, knowing that in the real world, she would be met with a group of armed men or a machine-gunning helicopter, or a Hollywood-inspired synonym.

But in this dreamy world, there was nothing. "Am I dreaming?" She half-jokingly asked Levi.

"Nope, we're just incredibly lucky."

"How do we get out now?"

"I have it: we clean windows."

"What?" Levi pointed at a white crane-like structure. It looked like a lifeboat hanging off the side of a cruise ship, but it was better – it was their ticket to freedom. They sprinted across the roof and clambered onto the cleaner. Levi fumbled about the screen, pressing a downward arrow to begin their relaxing descent. They ducked into the tub-like structure that was their escape tool. Fortunately, the couple could hide comfortably in the slowly falling tub.

They tub stopped at the ground level, where the two sprang out and ran across the grass yard and into the cover of trees. "This is the back." Levi said.

"Yeah, but I realized something on the roof."

"What?"

"We're in the middle of nowhere."

"So?"

"To get anywhere and hide, we'll need a vehicle."

"Crap."

"Actually, we may find some delivery trucks or something."

"Where are the police?"

"What?"

"You called them, right?"

"They won't believe us. Knowing these people, they blamed us for the murder."

"Fair enough."

"So we need a friend now."

"True." Levi glanced about. "What's there?"

"That looks like… a building." Petra strained to see.

"That could be a place to see."

"Let's go?"

"Beat you there." Levi sprinted off as Petra lagged a few feet behind. They cut through the foliage that occluded the building and found a small delivery centre.

The building was shorter and evidently older than the building they had escaped. It was red brick and at the back, opened up to a fleet of hollow hover trucks and the required concrete and glass docking bays.

Petra confidently strode towards the bays. "Hello." She innocently called out.

"Miss, this place is not open to the public." A middle-aged trucker walked over, authoritatively glaring and frustrated by the trespassers.

"I'm sorry, it's merely that I have been lost, and was wondering if I could get to the nearest town."

"You and your friend?"

"Yes."

"I'm afraid that there's not much we can do right now-"

"Cap! Get off their asses cap! I'll sort it out."

"Fine." Another, older man walked out to join the small interaction as 'Cap' walked away.

"Hello." The new man said. "Now I know you two aren't really lost, but I'll help you."

"What?" Levi stammered.

"I know you both ran away from home."

"Can we get a ride? We'll go back and-" Petra began, gushing as if weighed down by guilt.

"It's quite alright. You two can, in fact, stay at my house. I'll drop you off."

"Are you sure?"

"Please do, maybe you can inspire my fifteen year olds to do something, while you're at it."

"Thank you."

"And, before any of these morons have you calling me Docky, my name's Grisha. Follow me."

 **(And so ends part 2: the revelations.**

 **Next up: more action!**

 **Have fun!)**


	7. Running

"So they escaped?" Reiss said, and edge entering his voice. Even through the visor link, the terrified manager was able to imagine the anger in the over-stuffed face.

"Yes."

"Did you track them?"

"They threw away the trackers."

"All five?"

"Every one of them."

"Did you lock the building down?"

"They broke the top floor lock."

"And?"

"They took a window clean checker unit down." Levi's obsolete knowledge on that timely tub was partially inaccurate: the tub was to check and, rarely, maintain the automatic window cleaners on the side of the building.

"Where are they?"

"They took off with a trucker, last I checked."

"Did you contact said trucker?"

"I tried."

"Tried?"

"The troublesome twosome had called the police."

"Why?"

"I may have killed Reebs in front of them."

"That would've been fine, had they not used his visor – I presume that that's what they did."

"Yes."

"So?"

"I had to fake the CCTV and I pinned the murder on them."

"Fair enough."

"So now?" The manager feared for his life.

"Find the trucker."

"Alright. I'm sorry."

"Save it, we're probably better off replacing them. Orphans are more replaceable than daughters."

"If you want, I can still use Petra as leverage against Peter."

"And vice versa."

"I'll have their corpses as soon as I can."

"Exactly why I hired you, Zackly." Reiss hung up, knowing that he was immoral. He did just treat orphans as lab rats. It was however, as step up from kidnapping children to do so.

"So you two ran away?" Grisha said in a hover truck as he began to speed off.

"It's a long story." Petra tried.

"It always is, but it is also always much simpler than it seems."

The ride was smooth – smoother than that of a boat on a still lake. It was also fast. The truck picked up 200 miles per hour with ease, despite the weight of the deliveries. From inside the aerodynamic curves of the sports car-like body of the truck, the view improved as passengers could peer over the hedges and see the patchwork of various fields opening up in all deserted directions.

"He's your boyfriend and one pair of parents disapproves, right?" Grisha asked, a few minutes in.

Everybody was in the front row, which seated three very comfortably. Petra was sandwiched by the two men, in a state she could not object to. She leaned onto Levi for effect, saying: "I don't understand why, though."

"One day you'll be a parent – and maybe they don't want that day to be soon – but on whatever day that is, you'll come to understand."

"I want to understand now, not just take somebody's word for it." Petra petulantly grieved.

"You'll understand, or you'll wait it out."

"The latter, I love him."

"Then maybe they'll understand."

"I'd hope."

"Well, whatever will be." Grisha sighed.

"You know, maybe we should try living on our own." Levi said. "If we like it, we could stick together, if we don't we'll go home and break up."

"That sounds nice." Petra said.

"Don't be stupid, though." Grisha chimed in.

After a few more minutes of silent driving, they reached a town. "New Borehamwood." Grisha declared with familiarity. "Home's just about here, near the vacuum transit." A brief, slower, drive through the town centre revealed some activity as the town bustled in trade and daily lives. "Here, let me present you to Carla, my wife, and she'll sort out a room for you."

After a terse introduction, Carla presented them the basement of the house. There, they laid out the last mattress the house had – a single. "One of you will have to take the floor, to be civil." Carla said, with an annoyed edge.

The couple quickly took their leave to explore the town. The exploration revealed that the world day not changed too dramatically over the past 40 years. The universal currencies, politics and economics did not change. All that did happen was a massive advancement in technology, leading to minor fundamental changes in the way people lived.

They also learned that one of the changes was an increase in personal documentation. Though every document was now digital, there were more of them and they were more frequently necessary for purchases or other simple things.

"Everything should be in my identity, since I know that I have parents, and therefore am more likely to have documents." Petra said, outside a bank, or what seemed to be its 2051 counterpart.

Inside, they found a vastly different atmosphere. For one, there were only two people. Everything else had been automated. They found cubicles that took the place of tellers – who were not quite tellers in their time either – and people entered and exited the cubicles to carry out the few transactions or actions that required banks.

Petra stepped into a cubicle. "Hello. We see you are a new customer." A lady appeared.

"Hi." Petra awkwardly stammered.

"Would you like to open an account here?"

"Yes please."

If the interface was a real AI, with feigned feelings, it would have smiled and been thankful for the rare politeness. "We recognize that you are Petra Ral." The agent said instead.

"With what documentation?" Petra asked.

A birth certificate popped up onto the screen. "With this, we surmise that you have not completed schooling. We recommend that you do so, but it is not our right to deny you service."

"Thank you." It was good counsel. Petra was also happy to find that she did have some documentation, enough to get her a card. The card seemed to be the only way to use any currency and thus, it was the most valuable asset.

"We will provide you with a card."

"Thank you."

"You also have a college fund in your name, but a legal guardian must be present for encashment."

"Thank you for that."

A slot opened in the wall of the cubicle. "Here is your card."

"Thanks."

"Have a nice day and thank you for joining with Sina Bank, the most trusted in the world." Petra exited with that, showing Levi her card.

"It'll probably need your face or something for it to work." Levi said.

"Very secure."

"Screws us over though – I can't get anything."

"Try stepping into a cubicle."

Similar to Petra, Levi learned that he was born Levi Ackermann but did not have a college fund in his name. He also garnered a card.

"Happy?" Petra asked.

"I was born!" Levi joked in mock amusement.

"Now to find a job."

"There was a small café that was hiring."

"Fine, let's head over."

It took surprisingly little to get a job at the café. They showed their cards, were told not to be rude – that was the only reason they were hired, machines seemed too rude – and they were told how to hold a dish and then they got their jobs.

It was easy and the minimum wage was high enough to give them 50 credits each for the five hour shifts they took up.

With that, they left. They dined at the Jeager household – with Carla, Grisha, Eren and Mikasa. Eren and Mikasa largely ignored the two new teens and the parents stayed quiet during the awkward meal that ensued. Levi and Petra were happy for the awkwardness and stayed out of sight as much as possible.

All they heard from Grisha was "Don't make regrettable choices" as they descended into the makeshift room.

Early next morning, they woke up before dawn to leave. Finding scrap paper in the back and a disused pen, Petra quickly left a note.

 _Thank you for having us, but we have really got to go. It feels like we have overstayed our welcome, and we are not surprised. In either case, I hope we did not bother your lovely family and we are indebted to you deeply. Also, thank you for the advice. We will follow Levi's idea of trying to live together, thank you for simplifying our situation._

 _Petra and Levi._

With that, they exited, ensuring that the door had locked behind them.

They got to the café as it opened and quickly began working. They would need every hundredth of a credit they could get. "Diligent. I like it." Their boss – a middle aged blonde with nothing to lose or gain – complimented them.

The day then began slowly. After half an hour of cleaning and minor food preparation, the two new waiters opened the café.

Quickly, morning orders made the place busy. People did notice the two new workers, but could not object as their service improved.

By nine, after two gruelling hours of work, the flow of customers reduced. It was then that four teenagers entered the café. Since it was relaxed, they took up conversation with the waiters – one motivated also by a certain other arousal.

"Hey, hottie." This attracted customer called. Noting a male voice, Petra whirled to find one of the teenagers – the garishly dressed, old-looking one with almost grey hair and a mysteriously wrinkled face. Petra pointed at herself, not used to being address as such. "Yes, you." The customer said.

Petra strolled over, not particularly rushing and not deliberately slowly. "How may I help you?"

"In many, many ways."

"Would you like another Latte?" Petra said, glancing at his cup to discern his order.

"I would like you."

"That, unfortunately, is not on our menu."

"For no menu would be worthy."

"Or, more accurately, no men like you." The others at the table laughed. "Don't take it personally, I'm already taken." Petra quietly added.

"So, what's your name, since calling you hottie would be calling for trouble?" A blonde across the small, round table asked.

"Petra."

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Erd, he's Gunther," an adjacent brunette was indicated, "she's Hange," the only female at the table was pointed out, "and the weirdo there is Auro."

"Nice to meet you all. If you don't mind my asking, did you all take a gap year?"

"We dropped out after we made some cash as a band."

"A band?"

"We have the drummer," Auro, "guitarists," Erd and Gunther, "and the singer – most of the time." Erd said, finishing on Hange.

"Who manages gigs, tickets and all that stuff?"

"Currently all of us, but it's going to shit because of that."

"I see." Petra glanced over her shoulder. "Do you travel a lot?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I dropped out as well, just to see the world."

"You and your boyfriend?"

"Yeah."

"Interesting." Erd looked about, noting minute nods. "You want to join us – manage gigs and all that stuff?"

"I'll ask Levi – my boyfriend."

"Sure."

Petra entered the back room. "Levi?" She found his gaze fixed on a projection of the news. It was a communal news projector installed at the back to entertain workers. It could also be moved forward, into the dining area to air a football or rugby game that everybody cared about. On the projection of the news, Petra found her face next to Levi's. "… we do not know the cause of this murder but the police are out to find them. Please help as much as you can."

"We need to leave." Levi said.

"I found a way."

"What?"

"There's a band there. We can leave with them."

"Let us get our pay." Petra nodded and they walked to the small pay-station at the back, near the room. Levi had swiped his card and taken his pay. Petra followed suit.

"We'll take you up, if the offer still stands." Petra told the band.

"Alright." Erd smiled.

"I'll tell the boss." Levi said, turning back to the kitchen.

The boss was not too busy, merely cleaning the surfaces to maintain hygiene. "You alright?"

"We were planning to leave…" Levi nervously began.

"Forever?" Levi nodded. "It's fine. I won't pretend to understand, but enjoy yourselves."

"Thank you very much."

Levi entered the main dining area and found the group ready to leave.

"Shall we?" Gunther murmured.

"Let's go!" Hange said.

"Shit, she now has coffee in her." Auro groaned.

With that, the group crammed into the cosy hover-van that the band owed. They began to drive, Erd revealing that the destination was the city, for a small gig. He also revealed that they slept in the van most of the time, and everybody found that despite the increased number of people, that arrangement would be quite comfortable.

Back at the café, the boss sauntered into the back room, wondering what to do with the empty café. He saw the news and found the faces on it. "So that's the little secret." He sneered, using the visor to notify the police.

 **(And so part 3 begins...)**


	8. Two Hunters, Two Foxes and Two Rangers

That night was the first one planned to have been spent in the van. The band settled down early as Levi and Petra decided to take a small walk around the tube station's overnight parking lot.

"So, the police are after us." Levi said.

"And the experimenters." Petra replied.

"They're scarier."

"Yes, there's no death penalty as far as I'm aware."

"True."

"I wonder were dad is."

"He's the only person we might be able to trust."

"All the more reason."

"One good thing about this world though…"

"Yeah?"

"I get you." Petra kissed Levi on his cheek as they headed towards the van. In the van, conveniently, the only space available required Levi to be on top of Petra. Neither really objected to the forced intimacy.

The Borehamwood police blotter picked up the crime very quickly. Their server was empty as the bucolic town was usually crime free.

The police arrived at the café a crisp, approvable thirty seconds later.

They learned quickly that the suspects had left and thus, they filed the relevant location report. The boss was thanked and that was that.

The police now knew that the two were near New Borehamwood. From the café boss, two more vital things were learned: their names and that both were in possession of bank cards.

"Our man in the police says they're near new London." Zackly told Reiss over the phone.

"I have heard."

"We will try our utmost to reach them before the police do."

"Of course."

"Is there anything else?"

"Focus on them."

"Alright, I will not fail you."

"Proof would be nicer." Reiss hung up, leaving Zackly in a glowering umbrage. They had to beat the police – not too difficult a process, as long as the police did not demand more falsified evidence – the fake video was taxing enough already.

That morning was different at the hotel Erwin and Peter resided in. They saw the news and knew that Reebs had died by merely scanning the headline. It was on the tube to New London when an update came out, that the two learned the full story.

"She has her eyes." Peter summarized his gain of knowledge.

"They're in New London." Erwin added.

"We can save her."

"Everybody is after them."

"But we can save them."

"How?"

Peter stopped in his tracks. "We find them."

"How?"

"We use the police. To earn anything, they'll have to earn minimum wage. This means that they would encash their salary soon. But their cards will have been frozen."

"And they would not know that."

"Unfortunately."

"But that does mean that if they're not arrested tonight, they have some other means of survival."

"And in the city, those would be…"

"Illicit work."

"Like?"

"Need I enumerate?"

"Don't make my imagination do that."

"In either case, if it's an untaxable card exchanger, the police can't find them."

"But she has a HSBC card."

"How do you know?"

"She opened it last evening and it came to me just to let me know."

"Actually, why does card type matter?"

"HSBC won't add it to the account."

"Therefore, they would not be able to pay for anything."

"Yes."

"Shit."

"On to finding them before Reiss does…"

"The suspects were working at a small café in New Borehamwood before leaving abruptly. The police were notified by the owner as soon as the owner noticed. Their whereabouts are unknown though most sources believe that they are in New London." Erwin read.

"Does not help."

"I know."

"We could search the city centre. Anywhere where untaxed pay is popular and seventeen year olds are allowed is a good bet."

"I agree."

That night, Petra woke up to the electrodes once more. "Fuck you." She said in a disbelieving gasp. "Fuck you."

"Yes. That means you are stuck here now." Reebs said.

"Where is Levi?"

Reebs laughed. "Levi?" Petra nodded. "Levi's a figment of your imagination!"

"No!"

"Really, you're going to argue with me?"

"Yes, because unless you convince me that this is a dream, I will know that whatever I fall asleep to is not real."

"So?"

"That will ruin your experiment."

"But it's the only way you get Levi and your dad."

"Levi's not real."

"But we can make him, can't we?"

"None of that. I'll live without him. Just tell me what you want."

"Really? You in agony."

"Why?" Petra shrieked.

"It's fun to watch."

"Don't you have a soul?"

"Nope."

"A conscience?"

"None."

"Can't I-" Petra paused. "This is a dream." She said with a victorious air.

"And so you are convinced, and the experiment may resume." Petra heard a hiss as white smoke emerged from a vent in the ceiling. Her eyelids grew heavy. Soon, the experiment did resume.

Petra would have woken up screaming but was too familiar with that desire to let it be expressed. She kissed Levi's sleeping head in hopes of some reassurance. She knew he could be some apparition.

"Why is your heartrate so high?" She heard a whisper from her chest.

"Levi?"

"Who else?"

"I just had a nightmare, I think."

"You think?"

"I was like the recurrence."

"Shit."

"Except that you weren't real according to the adult."

"And this is an experiment?"

"Yeah."

"Feasible, I'll give it that."

"But how do I know what's real?"

"I'd live as if everything in the moment were real."

"And you'd love if I did that too." Petra said suspiciously.

"You don't trust me?"

"I don't know what to do Levi."

"I doubt I can help you."

"Give me a reason to live as if this was real."

"You won't regret anything."

"That I can buy."

"Then you have it."

"But what if they use this to know what I would do?"

"Then why would I be here?"

"To know my deepest secrets or something like that."

"I doubt that would happen."

"I don't know Levi. I don't know what to trust and I really want to trust you and it hurts that I have a reason not to."

"You'll have to come to terms with whatever you chose."

"What would you do?"

"Ask you the same."

"And proceed as I have been?"

"I think so."

"We're too alike."

"There's no such thing."

"Then answer me."

"I'd trust you by now. I think I'd give up on trying not to."

"Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds."

"O, it is an ever-fixed mark."

"Etcetera."

"Good night."

"Night."

Erwin and Peter exhausted much of West New London by the time the day was coming to an end. They agreed to stay away from the house they had begun to share and made arrangements under another pseudonym.

"It's hard." Peter said.

"For her sake, let's not give up hope."

"She really does have Mary's eyes."

"Did you never get to grieve?"

"More or less."

"That explains it."

"It had better, otherwise I'd deserve to be in the asylum."

"You don't think she did it, do you?"

"Neither her nor the boy. But we do know that they have successfully escaped."

"How are you so sure?"

"They wouldn't draw police attention in any other case."

"Fair enough."

"So, tomorrow we split up the East, right?"

"Sure. I'll call you if I find them, I don't want to make contact."

"Of course – they would not know you."

"There we have it."

"See you tomorrow."

The night was not nice for Zackly either – he had had no luck in finding the couple anywhere on company surveillance and none of the scouts he posted about the town ever saw either. He was willing to consider that the two were disguised at this point.

He did his own surveillance, but also found no leads. He hoped to offer a few lower-class people a cash reward for information, but failed due to time constraints. He knew he would have offered more than the police, but that would have to wait a night thanks to the CCTV footage he and a few team members had had to scrub. Facial recognition was nice, but Reiss demanded more security and that took much more time.

The couple were being chased by two enemies and a pair of allies. They did not know the magnitude of the hunt that was on. The only people fully aware of the entire hunting and helping packs were Zackly, Reiss, Peter and Erwin. The police only knew about the couple and the couple did not know about Peter and Erwin.


	9. The Hunt

In the van, Erd usually woke up first. Despite their age and the stereotyped slovenliness and known delayed awakenings, Erd rose at six. It was his tick and he claimed all the honours that came with it: he managed everything, becoming the patriarchal leader; he got to enjoy solace, being the only person to know what silence felt like and he got to get everybody his choice of coffee.

That morning, however, was different. It was the morning he realized that he had just spent the night with murderers. Quickly, he awoke every band member and they surreptitiously slunk out of the van.

"You read it?" Erd asked a few seconds after sending each person a link.

"It explains a lot." Hange said.

"Yes."

"We have to report them." Gunther said. "Not to is a crime."

"Really?" Auro asked.

"Criminal by accessory." Gunther said, satisfied with his knowledge of the legal system.

"But what if we-" Auro began.

"They probably could find out." Erd said.

"Actually, it is rather unlikely." Gunther said. "To see if we were accessories, prior suspicion would be required."

"I'm not for taking risks though." Hange added.

"So, we turn them in?" Erd concluded.

"Yeah." A general consensus began to form, without Auro's voice. "But-" The dissenter began.

"Just because you fancy her-" Erd began to scold.

"But what if-" Auro tried once more.

"Point is our duty is to report them, and I will if you don't." Gunther said.

"Well put." Hange supported him.

"Fine. Somebody report them." Auro conceded. "Her innocence will speak for itself."

Luckily for the couple, Levi was a light sleeper. Despite all their measures, the group woke him up. He, in turn, woke Petra up. "I think they know." He whispered.

"Let's just leave." Petra said.

"Leave them a thanks." Levi added.

Conveniently, the band carried paper and a pen in case of the obsolete materials' need. It was more for a façade, but both tools were functional.

 _Thank you very much._

 _As much as we would love to absolve ourselves – we didn't do it, we swear – we know that we would not be very convincing._

 _In either case, best of luck!_

 _-Levi and Petra._

With the brief note penned down, the pair left, getting a head start thanks to the bickering band.

"They've gone." Erd said as the band reached the van.

"I have a visor image of them." Gunther said.

"You're too preoccupied." Auro wheedled.

The police response time was a record, as always. It took the officers two minutes to arrive. For a mere sighting of criminals, two minutes was excellent time. In real emergencies, of course, ten seconds was more common in better served districts.

New London was an odd conglomerate of different parts – much like most cities and mirroring its old counterpart. The East side, much like the older East, was derelict. There were developments and the East was not a slum, but it was the more downtrodden and less savoury district.

This led to the police regularly finding themselves in the district. Service waiting times reached their minimum but crime was still somehow faster.

The officers who pulled up to the parking lot and found the van knew that the criminals were probably long gone. Unfortunately, the pair of murderers had a lead. Fortunately, constant monitoring would lead to leads for the police. Already, most of the country was eliminated from the search. It was only a matter of time before they would be found.

The officers did as they were forced – they sent out the report and began to scan the area. They found the note at the van and dismissed it, handing it to the band. They pursued the nearest exit to the parking lot, unsure of where the couple would be. In fact, they knew that the pair could still be among the parked vehicles.

"Server has a new update." The operative told Zackly a few minutes later.

"East end, I see." Zackly said.

"Yes. I'm close enough to pursue."

"Enter the police detail – let's eliminate two concerns at once."

"I shall." The operative had a badge and would join the police force tasked with the tracking of the two murderers.

"Good. Keep me posted."

"Sure thing, boss."

"Thank you." Zackly hung up, happy that his small mistake would be dealt with in a neat way that did not involve his death.

The operative, operating as detective Hernandez, was at the police office in five minutes. In ten, he was leading the small detail that would find and arrest Levi and Petra. He would, of course, mess up and some mysterious mafia would take the captives away from police custody and into their shadowy counterpart, but that was not a concern of detective Hernandez's.

"A blotter came in. They're in the East end." Erwin said.

Peter Ral stretched about his bed and rose. "Let's head out."

"We have to find them – the police net is closing."

"I wouldn't be surprised if that's the REEBS net as well."

"I doubt anybody would be."

"Let's find them before they know." Peter quickly got dressed and Erwin followed suit.

"We need to look different." Petra panted a few corners away from the car park.

"What?" Levi huffed.

"If we look different enough, nobody would recognise us."

"But a computer would."

"Only those scanning for us."

"Intriguing, but how?"

"Hair."

"And?"

"We would need hats."

"True."

"Any ideas?" Petra glanced about, ensuring the lack of followers.

"We'll have to break in somewhere."

"But, where?" Petra glanced about the street and found it to be quite residential. Red brick row houses lined both sides and security was pervasive.

"I got it." Levi squinted at a fence that divided two properties, near a small break in the row of housing. Without further explanation, he ran into the house's front lawn and darted to the fence. Petra followed despite her cluelessness. The side and the fence formed a narrow alley. The alley was blocked by a door – an intricate metal grille that Levi climbed in a few seconds. Petra followed his steps, understanding some of his idea.

The back revealed a shed. Levi smiled a little as he used a stone to shatter the small window in the shed. He groped about the dark interior, hoping for an absence of rats, spiders or any other unsavoury tenants. Instead, he fished out a pair of shears. Victoriously, he held them up.

Petra smirked. "No way." She held her hair taut and closed her eyes, expecting a painful pulling as Levi cut her hair. It was, as always, quicker than she expected as the gardening tool groomed her. "And you?" She said a few seconds after her haircut.

"I-" Petra snatched the shears and nodded, suggesting a particular cutting. "Fine." Levi sighed. His hair was then cut as well. Petra left the shears in the shed, reaching through the broken glass to place them on whatever counter Levi had found them on.

"Now?" Levi queried as the pair exited private property, climbing over the fence once more.

"No hits on public transport." The officer monitoring CCTV said to Hernandez.

"They're smarter than we give them credit for." The detective grunted.

"Makes it tougher." Another more pessimistic subordinate mumbled.

"I need a team to search for them." Hernandez ignored the negativity.

"And the honour among thieves…" The subordinate gloomily continued.

"We'll divide up the region they can be in and we will find them." The detective authoritatively continued. "And don't make the arrest until I'm on the scene."

"Why?" Another subordinate queried.

"Because that is the best practice." Another sarcastically said.

"Good, now that we're ready, I'll divide up the map and we'll find them." The detective disappeared into his office. "Yes, Zackly, all is fine." He said on the phone.

"Good." Came over the line.

"You'll have the Guinea pigs soon."

"Thank you." The line cut. Hernandez smiled and went to work.

"We should find a way to communicate with them." Erwin said as the pair sat on the tube.

"They won't have visors." Peter said.

"And we don't have connections."

"I can't pretend to know how they'd think either."

"Unfortunate."

"Yes."

"We could try a conventional search."

"Yes, but I think there are areas we can eliminate quickly."

"We ought to assume that they're smart."

"She's my daughter."

"Fair enough."

"They may have wizened up and changed their look."

"We would probably find them in a public area." Erwin said after pausing.

"Public?"

"Underground concert."

"Why?"

"It's hard to find people in a crowd."

"Maybe, then."

"A week rave."

"What?"

"They soup people up on drugs and con them for a week straight."

"You mean, she would-"

"I don't know. It's where people are the hardest to find."

The road was empty. The pair needed to leave the quiet, more suburban area. "Do you remember anything about raves?" Levi asked.

"Raves?" Petra wondered why he would bring those up at such a point in time.

"The underground concerts that-"

"Oh, yeah. Why?"

"If we sneak into one, they'll never find us."

"Could we get in?"

"We're both 18, so, yes."

"Where, though?"

"I say, we stalk the band."

"And if they take the van?"

"I doubt they would." Levi began to double back. Petra followed. The van had not yet moved and the group found it deserted.

"Let's check every exit." Petra suggested, turning about to see every way to leave the lot.

"But we'll have to be sure that they don't see us."

"We can do it." The lot was bordered by two roads – both residential. In the centre, the lot was bisected by another street, and on the side, two exits led to the tube, making there be a total of eight exits. One was the one they chose – to their left. The one in front, though they had no idea, was the location of Erd surreptitious meeting.

To their back right, also without them knowing, the band walked down the street to find "The Basement" – the biggest rave site known.

"We can't follow them onto the tube." Petra pointed out.

"We'll have to hope they didn't take the tube." Levi sighed.

"Fair point." Petra scanned the area again. "How about we glance at each point and meet back here?"

"Sure."

"Hopefully we won't get separated."

"Well… in case." Levi pulled Petra to him, planting a kiss on her face.

"How melodramatic." Petra mused, running to the back left. Levi ran to the centre front.

They met breathlessly at the van. Both nodded a no and headed to their respective next road.

"We take the last one together, then?" Levi panted as the reunited at the van.

They both ran to the back right street. The road was residential but the silhouettes of the band members was visible, so the pair followed quietly and closely. Indistinct conversation was audible as they stalked the members, hoping not to be caught again.

"This site lists 'The Basement' as the biggest rave site." Erwin said.

"Where is it?" Peter looked over.

"They give us the district, but we'll have to get our own directions within it."

"Makes sense."

"Luckily, we're on the right train."

"Good."

"And I think I know where to find out about the rave."

"Will we be able to get in?"

"They'll visor scan us and put a nark blocker."

"What?"

"Sorry, I forgot that you've not been to high school in the modern days." Peter smirked. "The visors can be used to report crimes, but certain apps block that feature. A police visor would also raise a flag."

"So that's how they stay under the radar?"

"It's quite simple, but the police can't do anything about it."

"Fine. We'll break into a rave."

"So now, officers, you have your regions. Be sure to use facial recognition because it's easy to trick the eye." Hernandez bellowed as the hover bikes set off into New London.

 **(Please pardon publication delays. I hope you liked this. The POV switching is intentionally confusing...)**


	10. Reform

The situation within the walls was, for once, not dismal. In the year 852, the queen had taken the throne. For once, people could see the overall change as an upward climb.

Historia Reiss brought help for the poor for the first time in living memory. Even the few historical records kept over time did not have records of any help for the poor.

Historia was named "the Orphan Queen" and was revered everywhere.

The military – the unified defence force, as the survey corps came to be called – had Eren and his titan abilities. This meant that research was reaching new heights. Titans were being killed in new ways with the guillotine – a clever device of Hange's invention.

Then came the expedition to Shinshiga. Much of the public did not approve of it, despite Historia's rhetoric and the many reasons presented. The only reason a riot did not break out was the Arlert history act – Armin's ingenious lift on the ban on books about the world before the walls.

It worked – the people did not object to the expenditure as expenditure in enforcing the ban on old books vanished.

In fact, by the time the corps had prepared – over a very busy fortnight – the public satisfaction was high and historic facts were appearing at an unprecedented rate. People learned that life was better before the walls, that humanity had freedom and power, that people wasted their luxuries instead of waiting for them.

It was difficult, but therapeutic – the process was like the popping of the pus-filled bubble of one's depression; reactions oozed out of the people and flowed freely and the negativity was quickly drained away.

Therefore, the basement mission was under way very quickly.

"It's odd that they have us do it so quickly." Connie said, packing his bags, ensuring that space was reserved for supplementary food for Sasha; one of the pitfalls of a relationship being sharing.

"The sooner we know, the better." Sasha mumbled in between bites of cheese – a commodity that increased funding gave her delightful access to.

In adjoining rooms, similar things happened. Mikasa and Eren were preparing their emotions for the slaughter of revisiting a traumatic site. "Eren, we should take something for mother." Mikasa quietly said, not letting her emotions show.

"Other than our happier, healthier selves, I'm sure there's little she'd want." Eren cheerfully replied, having cried to Armin and having learned these reasons from his blonde friend.

Jean and Armin shared a room and Jean was, after a few months, used to different company – usually Ymir's as she was generally the least busy.

"Armin's sucking up to the leadership again." Jean complained.

"He gets more time with Christa than I do." Ymir moaned.

"I'm sure our Royal Highness has reasons for that. She always has those reasons she'll never tell."

"They're better than Rod's usual reasons, though."

"Sure."

"Trust Hange and Levi, for her sake. Trust her."

"Easy for you to say."

"Because I don't have a stick up my arse."

"Sure."

In the throne room, a long walk from the barracks away, Levi, Hange, Armin and Christa were busy planning the mission. "Yes, I understand the reasoning behind the route. Clever as always, Armin." Christa quietly said from her seat.

"Thank you." Armin replied, on edge due to the new title conferred upon his look-alike.

"How's the public holding up?" Levi asked.

"They'd prefer me alive, fortunately." Christa quipped. Christa's participation in the mission was decided by poll – if enough of the public wanted her on the mission, she would have gone. Luckily, many preferred her rule and chose to keep her safe. "How are the weapons?" Christa nodded to Hange.

"Fine." Hange had been overseeing the research and development of new weapons, such as what old books called a grenade – useful in the cases of being swallowed whole, a curved variant of the standard blade to allow for strength and a new and less gas-dependant version of the 3DMG. "The grenade is ready and will be used on this mission, as will the curved blade. The 3DMG modification will have to wait, unfortunately."

"This sounds good." Christa smiled.

"If I may, would we need to retrain to handle the curved blades?" Armin cut in.

"Not much." Hange declared. "The weights and torques have not changed enough to require it, but they're stronger, so if anything, we're all over-trained."

"And the grenades?"

"We'll need to make safe training areas for those – the blasts can be potent."

"The plan was that you'd blast open a titan's gut, if you needed to, right?" Levi confirmed.

"Yes, but we need to do more tests. The blasts had been said to have had negative impacts on people at a distance and the shockwave had been said to cause brain damage."

"Old research?" Armin asked.

"Yes. We hoped to continue it, but we hardly have the technology they did."

"It's not like we would need it, if all goes to plan."

"Fair enough."

The door creaked to everybody's surprise and Levi got ready for any physical or verbal attack he would need to unleash as the wood creaked.

"The last time I was in here, I was in chains. Reiss was there, Rod there and all the corrupt cronies there." The left hand moved about, indicating the historic spots as the new person spoke.

"Thank you for gracing us with your visit, Mr Smith." Christa began. "How's your retirement?"

"Fine. It's nice not being responsible for deaths." Erwin replied.

"Of course, though you've ben pardoned."

"I hear a mission is underway."

"Yes."

"It's nice to see how transparent the government is."

"You've been reading old stuff, haven't you?" Levi mumbled.

"Of course. Now, what's this plan?" Erwin leaned over the map. He read it and before anybody could explain, said: "I see you're going to the blasted basement once and for all. I'd have loved to."

"Unfortunately, retired soldiers are not allowed on the mission." Levi grumbled.

"Nice plan, Armin. Remember to use- oh, are those rain meeting spots?" Erwin continued.

"Yes." Armin smiled.

"Ingenious." Erwin said.

"Thanks."

"I'll not keep you, best of luck."

"Actually, Mr Smith, it would be nice of you to offer inputs." Christa said.

"Thank you, I would love to stay."

The meeting was, as a result, extended by an hour. It did help to have Erwin check everything as people gained confidence, knowing that the plan passed through the hands that all the other missions did.

"What a surprise." Ymir said, noting the time.

"Armin being Armin." Jean muttered.

"Calm down. I'm sure there's a good reason. And I doubt any of you mind extra time put into planning." Mikasa said.

"Armin wouldn't try anything stupid." Eren added.

At the meeting, the old friends – Hange, Levi and Erwin – added their small chat to its end, leaving Armin and Christa in the throne room. "It's been a while for the long distance formation." Levi mused.

"Since the 57th." Erwin pointed out. Hange and Erwin glanced at Levi, knowing that he would still have a few raw feelings from that day.

"Hopefully no lurking variables would screw it up this time." Levi grumbled. "And everybody knows everything this time around."

"True – it won't end like last time." Hange reassured.

"Or the last time outside the walls." Levi jokingly pointed at Erwin's right shoulder, from which a stump emerged as a ghost of the arm a titan took.

"Fair point."

"Optimism." Levi sneered.

"He's starting to understand." Hange told Erwin.

"I'll tell the 104th." Levi excused himself.

The squad had arranged for the mission already as it was scheduled to depart by ten in the next morning. Dinner was ready thanks to Sasha's unique expertise.

Everybody had waited for Levi, who sat at the head of the table and began with a "Good evening."

The sentiment was echoed. "Armin shall explain the mission." Levi said. Jean made a secret face, but nobody but Ymir noticed.

"Fine. The objective is, of course, the study of Eren's basement. We will use the long distance formation as a squad, travelling in pairs as each unit. There will be a main cart with Heicho and Hange San in the centre of the formation. That will carry all the papers on the return trip. Our route will be directly southward for the most part. We will veer a little to go to a few woods. The plan is to reach Shinshiga by nightfall." Armin explained.

"Who's each person's partner?" Jean asked.

"Partners are by current room assignment, with Ymir joining us."

"What of messages?" Connie wondered.

"The only group that should need to send messages is the front – Jean, Ymir and my group. Other groups would be able to go to the centre in only a dire emergency."

"Also, we know what to expect quite well, so do not be too concerned." Levi said. "You all chose to be here."


	11. The Safety of the Foxes

The band entered the rave site. As Petra expected and Levi knew, it was a derelict warehouse. From the outside, it was nondescript. It was grey, rusted and seemed empty, like the five others in the industrial park.

"The plan here is to get a job." Levi said.

"That sounds nice." Petra agreed.

"Also, we should not eat anything we are offered. We won't know what's in it."

"Do you know who to ask?"

"The bouncer."

"And we'd be fine?"

"Probably."

With that, the pair gingerly approached the door. Quiet music was audible as the grey dilapidated walls slightly quaked at the bass. They found the small white door the band disappeared behind. Levi knocked on the door. "Care to pay?" The bouncer – a broad, tall, muscular man clad in black with no hair and menacing blue eyes - confidently opened the door.

"We're looking for jobs." Levi said.

"You two together?"

"Yes." Levi decided after a quick glance at Petra.

"Let's see a card."

"What?"

"You can't be the police." Petra handed her card as Levi followed suit. "Ah, the opposite. That's quite a bounty." There was a pause as the bouncer stepped back. "Come in and wait right here."

Officer Hernandez knew that searching the city would be mundane. Yet, it was what he was paid to do – as usual, it was not his passion (though he loved to see it as his talent).

The East New London dispatch that talked to the band had left, yielding to Hernandez's more qualified team, conveniently opening up the playing field for Hernandez.

The roads were quite empty, leaving Hernandez to presume the worst. There were no odd police calls – no awkward "wrong number" hang ups that usually signalled a hostile hostage situation, no random home alarms or home invasion alerts and no pings on the public transit or CCTV. The pair were luckier than they could know.

The pair had had to be inside. Presumably, they would have eaten. They would, likely, not be far from Stratford – the station where the band's van was. It was difficult to say much more. Derelict or otherwise empty buildings were being prioritized, but in the decadent district any other priority would have been optimal.

"To catch a rat, you have to think like a rat." Hernandez muttered, weighing each possible move.

The pair did not get vengeance either – a band member would have gotten some frazzled word out otherwise.

Hernandez paused. His partner, some generic detective, stopped as well. "What is it, sir?"

"Is there any footage of the band members?" Hernandez asked.

"No. Why?"

"It's harder for more people to stay under the radar. The band may be on their side."

"Are you suggesting-"

"I don't know what that means, but either it's not good news for us or it's not good news for the band."

"It'd be hard for them to make allies."

"Yes. But the band and the criminals are likely to be in the same place."

"But, sir, we can't find either."

"We'll search on." Hernandez sped off. The partner followed.

Luckily for Erwin, charisma led to lasting friends. Dot Plixis was a college friend of Erwin's who was more connected with the world Peter and Erwin desired to get into.

After all the niceties of a reunion, Erwin set off on business: "So, DP, where is that 'basement' you keep telling me about."

"Finally, Erwin, finally. It's… I'll send you the address."

"Thank you."

"What that all?"

"Yes."

A few more minutes passed before a brief goodbye.

"Now to find your daughter." Erwin said.

"The sooner the better." Ral sighed as they set off on the important journey.

The door opened into a louder room with three doors: the one behind them from which they entered, a small wooden one to their left and a larger metallic one in front. It was evident that the rave was behind the metallic one, but the white, carpeted and fluorescently lit room could have fit into any building. The bouncer held up his right hand and made a quick gesture at a mirror at the top of the room. "Wait a few seconds, alright." He told the nervous couple. "We won't bite your type. You may even join the family."

"Pardon my asking, but: family?" Petra said.

"So you're not mute. We, the workers in the basement, consider ourselves a family."

"That sounds very nice."

"Politeness won't get you far, missy."

"I'll learn."

"Let's hope."

An older man in a bilious green shirt and white khakis, also lacking hair, but without the muscle, appeared. "Prospective employees?" He sneered, basking in the ironically innocuous words' abuse.

"Yes." Petra said.

"Credentials?" The bouncer nodded as the couple handed over their cards.

"Unfortunately, you'll have to be in for life to break even on our investment."

"Investment?" Petra spat out.

"We're investing in you to keep your lives."

"Fine." Levi sighed, noticing that the two of them had been traded from one owner to another. At least this ownership was not quite as invasive.

"Give me a minute." The green-shirted guy turned. "Set them up on backstage." He called as he walked away.

"Go through the door and at the furthest corner, knock and say this: 'they are the prey and we are the hunters.' That's the password." The bouncer said.

The door revealed a white corridor that was too clean-looking to be criminal. The doors on either side were a light green. The walls were bare as were the doors, possibly, as Levi surmised, to make finding rooms a little more difficult for strangers.

The door on the far right was exactly as the other doors. Levi knocked. Noise was audible from behind it – still quiet, but louder than that audible in the other room.

The door opened and a man with short brown hair – gelled to stand up from his scalp – a black shirt and jeans stared out. "What?"

"We're here for a job." Levi said.

"Really? Say the password."

"They are the prey and we are the hunters."

The man paused. "Well then. Do you have any useful skills?"

"Just an education."

"Better than some." The man stepped back to let the couple in.

The area they entered was black. It was hard to see everything. Walls were hard to find, there were wires all about the place. A screen lit up an oasis in the darkness, revealing a soundboard and more wires. The man led the group to the left, away from the light. They walked between curtains as the volume of the music grew.

They came to the opposite side where a few instruments, more hidden wires and a few more stage hands lurked.

"This is where bands enter and exit." The man said over the music. "They get paid here and can leave instruments here at their own risk."

"What would we do?" Levi asked.

"You manage bands. They'll tell you how long they would like to stay on. You let them stay for exactly that much time."

"Is that all?"

"Some are a bit… stubborn."

"Thank you." Petra said.

"Remember to do your job well."

"When's this band getting off?"

"Check that sheet." The man indicated a tattered piece of paper. Petra walked to find it with a scribbled 14:23 under many crossed off times. A pencil was left on the floor. "Clock's there." The man pointed to the opposite wall where four red seven-segment displays indicated 12:13. "Ask anybody if you need anything." The man walked away.

Peter and Erwin reached the warehouse quickly. They knew precisely where they were going. It was still 1 pm when they reached.

The bouncer courteously scanned their cards and let them into the antechamber. "Mr. Ral? Are you the father of Petra Ral?"

"Yes." Peter said in a mix of joy and wonder.

"She came in with a young man, looking for a job."

"I'm sure she did."

"Are you searching for her?"

"Yes. If you could get us to her, that would be nice."

"And this… Mr Smith is with you?"

"Yes."

"Alright, please wait." The man threw another gesture at the mirror.

The older man in green came in. "I see." He said, quickly scanning the cards that the bouncer had kept. He returned the cards. "Follow me."

The men entered the white corridor, but went to the first door on the left, which was an office. It was a normal office – one from which a proud father of two would leave after a day at the insurance company, or one from which the younger mother would leave for an annoying sales meeting; not one from which the area's biggest illegal rave site was run. There was a wooden desk in the centre of the room with three chairs around it – two evidently for visitors. There was a computer, a calendar, a filling cabinet, a board and a bookshelf. The bookshelf actually had books and there was writing all over the place – enough that it looked very legitimate. There were even a few plants as book ends.

"Wait here." The man said, externally locking the door.

"Unexpected." Erwin said.

"Well, I can't hate it." Peter replied.

The door opened quickly. "They're on their way. Also, visors off please." The man said.

The two men handed over their visors. "It's an odd thing to ask, but since when were criminals this nice?" Peter tersely questioned.

"Our leader believes in two things: family and trust." The man leaned back, holding the visors. "These will be scrubbed."

"Trust, eh?" Erwin said.

"Reasonable trust." The man said with an edge in his voice.

"Sorry." Peter said. "And thank you very much."

"It's quite alright."

"Your father's here to see you." The man said. Petra was surprised. She was learning the ropes with Levi – they were trying to understand how the backstage was run.

"What?" Petra stuttered.

"Just follow me. You too." The man commanded, including Levi with his words and a turn of his head.

The pair followed. They entered the office in a minute and there they met. Levi and Petra blinked. "Dad…" Petra quietly said.

Peter sobbed first. He took a few steps and hugged Petra. "Thank God." He said, choking in happiness.

Petra hid in his shoulder, finding it oddly natural. "Thank God it's you."

"Mr Reiss. To what do I owe the pleasure?" The manager said on the phone.

"You haven't mobilized our crime links, I see."

"Unfortunately, the East London groups are a part of that Kenny's mafia."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Unfortunate. Do what you can."

"I have."

"Good, then. Let's hope you find them."

"The police aren't a threat."

"I'm aware."

"But we don't know about Ral."

"Of course. You didn't follow him, did you?"

"We are aware, from footage, that he's in London."

"Anywhere specific."

"Stratford, last we saw."

"And the twosome cannot be far."

"We will know."

In the misplaced office in the warehouse, the reunited family and the two friends had settled down. They spoke of the dreams and the research with the two older men revealing the full villainous intent of the REEBS corp.

"From a psychological standpoint, you two are doing very, very well." Erwin said. "It was hypothesized, with much support, that after waking from such a dream, the subjects would not be able to function and consider this world a dream."

"Yet, you trust that this is the real world." Peter added.

"I don't know how. I'm insecure, I'll admit. Part of me is sure that you're enacting a part of some program to have us believe that this is real." Petra quietly said, avoiding eye contact.

"I just trust the world." Levi said. "After all, we'd lose nothing if this were actually a dream."

"That rationality is strange." Erwin said.

"I don't know what I don't know and there's no point in guessing."

"That's nice." Peter said.

"I'm going to ignore all that, and tell you what I must." The man from the gate – the aged one in hideous green – cut in. "The boss wants to see you four, so you cannot leave yet."

"It's fine, thanks." Peter complied, too happy with the situation to care. With that the man left the room, locking it externally.

Hernandez hated the waiting. They were looking for the couple and most of it, by some miracle, was waiting. Waiting for the pair to blunder. Waiting for some magical footage. Waiting for a vigilante to report a sighting. Waiting to find the pair in East London. It was all waiting.

The police could not go to the rave site because they did not know where it was. In fact, even the underground links of the REEBS corps barely could help. The pair were in East London – that was all that could have been said since that morning. It was now 2pm. For eight hours, the pair eluded the police. It was a miracle, only explicable by a rave site. But the rave site was inaccessible to anybody with a police badge.

Hernandez, of course, was not always with the police. His third identity would get him into the rave site. But he would need a convenient excuse to switch into that one and he would lose the police power and protection.

This impasses led him to his phone. "Yes sir, that would be great." He told the superintendent. He had just contacted his boss to try to get an undercover team to search the rave site. The skeptical superintendent grudgingly agreed to try to get the permission to send out an undercover team. In the history of New London, this operation and knowledge of any rave site was unheard of. This was too unconventional for anybody's liking, but Hernandez was convincing.

Everything would be arranged with police celerity – or so the joke went.


	12. Undermining the Police

The police had progressed tremendously since their inception in the Victorian era. Filing and paperwork were more organized digitally and people were more willing to use the files and increasingly chaotic forms because inputting became simpler.

Because papers were organized so neatly, people were managed and laws were enforced with a similar neatness.

Yet, in the puddles of poverty that lasted, even digital paper became soggy and even the ones and zeroes ran as the ink once did.

Nevertheless, superintendent Dawk was far from a puddle – he was in the centre of the organization. He could follow every paper trail and see anything. He was omnipotent and omniscient. All it took was the filing and approval of the correct form.

Form 0xacffb102490fe (a 'hexadecimal' id that made things simpler for the computers, he was told) was the form he would have to fill to have Hernandez get an undercover squad.

0xacffb102490fe, instance 0x00005, was the item his visor beamed to the undercover squad's office.

The office would reply with a 0xacffb102490ff with the approval and the team member's id numbers.

The reply took five minutes to arrive.

3 undercover detectives were being briefed and would have to find the location of the venue before leading Hernandez in.

Shadis was once a contracted security agent. The police then gave him a different contract – one where he would be training agents. He hated the job, preferring the field over the filing he ended up doing. His office showed this lack of care. There were neat, unorganized piles of papers everywhere. The printer and a computer were the only breaks in that. Even points on the floor were covered. The metallic desk he was at and the grey cabinet to his right were covered in unrelated stacks. But they were neat stacks.

"Leonhart, Hoover and Braun!" He called out across the office that morning, having read instance 0x00005.

The three, having experienced their commander's rage, stood crisply to attention at his door only a second and a half after his shriek. "Yes captain!" They returned the shout in unison.

"Prepare for briefing."

"At what time, sir?" Braun called out.

"Ten minutes. Dismissed." The three stiffly turned and left to their desks. Shadis sighed, happy that the recruits were not retarded, but annoyed that he would have to brief them – that required the preparation of a brief and that was paperwork.

He furiously compiled all the data he had and prepared a rushed brief for the threesome.

In that time, the ten minutes expired as well and the trio were outside the door. "Briefing room 1." He said curtly, collecting the print outs and following them to the boardroom-like office that was labelled "briefing room 1."

The briefing room was not intended to be welcoming. It was bare. It was a coffee table with six chairs – six plastic chairs. There was neither a screen nor a computer in the room – only the chairs, the table and the people.

Shadis dropped the paper onto the coffee table and each of the recruits picked up one. They quietly read the brief brief.

 _Mission:_

 _1)_ _Locate 'the basement' – an underground rave site supposedly run by Kenny's gang._

 _2)_ _Infiltrate the above with detective Hernandez to locate Petra Ral and Levi Ackerman. Custody of Ral and Levi is Hernandez's prerogative._

"You can assume identities as you please." Shadis said as all three looked up. "I shall review them and give you clearance to leave."

"By when should this be done?"

"Fifteen minutes." Shadis glanced at the clock, noting that they would be at his office by 3 pm. "Also, the brief is tentative – you may be called in order to add to it."

"Yes sir." All three rose.

"Dismissed." The three left and Shadis sighed, returning to his paper jungle.

Hunters had it hard. Hunters hardly looked back, though they should have many times. Hunters were usually over-confident. Prey, on the other hand, had some advantages. As prey, victims could defend. They could hide. They could decide. They could see the hunter's first move. Hunters had to dive into murky waters while the prey, when smart enough, could be the murkiness.

That was Ralph's living – being intelligent prey. He preyed on the police, who preyed on him and his bosses.

Ralph was an old man, giving him an advantage over most younger officers. His square, wrinkled face looked impassive with or without his trademark sunglasses. His white hairs stood as if in fear of what machinations they heard from his cerebrum. He could have dominated a room to silence with his presence, but chose to skulk in the shadows, stalking the police.

At 3:15, he saw three teenagers leave a nondescript office building. His hover-car whirred on. These teenagers were already cross-checked by his visor and found to be undercover agents. He would learn of their mission in short order. Even on an empty street, these average hunters were no match for the intelligent prey.

From his visor he sent a brief message to his bosses: "If any of you have anything to cover, tell me. New London PD has dispatched three teenage undercover agents. I am following them." He attached pictures. The police were hopeless.

"Erwin has only one friend in that area." A technician said to the manager.

"Now you tell me?" The manager glared, hissing.

"Sorry, sir, we only pursued this avenue a few minutes ago."

"Find the friend."

"Yes sir."

"And make sure we learn where Erwin and Peter are."

"Will do, sir."

"Good." The technician exited the office, still amazed at the number of screens contained in the small room in the REEBS building. That was the building from which Levi and Petra escaped and the days the manager wished to forget began. They were continuing as the week was coming to a close and no new leads were made. The day after would be a Friday and then police help would drop.

The visor interrupted another of the manager's reveries. "Yes, Mr Reiss."

"I've unearthed something interesting."

"What would that be, sir?"

"This Levi we're after may just happen to be related to Kenny."

"The Kenny?"

"Yes. In fact, Levi may be that missing son."

"What?"

"And now, Kenny may have found his missing son."

"We must broker a deal then, I'm afraid."

"We can't."

"Why?"

"Ackermans never forget."

"Forget?"

"REEBS has had a long past."

The manager knew better than to pursue his line of questioning. "I understand sir, but short of declaring a war, I see little that we can do."

"Then we declare war."

"Against?"

"Kenny Ackerman."

"If you don't mind, I'd first like to see if my agent can infiltrate the rave site."

"Best of luck." Reiss returned shallowly.

"Thanks." The call ended. The manager was quick to update the team with the new plan. Hernandez and the undercover agents would pay Erwin's friend a visit and then find Levi – who the team still only knew as Levi the guinea pig, not Levi the gangster's son.

Any other chauffeur would have been trembling. Kenny knew this from experience. He knew that his presence carried an aura that scared people. He was not sure whether it was an intrinsic property or the weight of his name, but he did not like it much. It had been useful, but he preferred confidence in the men he trusted his life with.

This chauffeur, however, was experienced. And this chauffeur had spoken to Kenny and felt more comfortable around him as a result. It was nice. Kenny wondered why the universe was being nice to him.

Of course, things were hardly perfect. His son had racked up some baggage, he heard. He'd need to discuss this.

That aside, things would be fine. He did get to skip out on most of parenthood and found a decent son delivered straight to him. Maybe the son would not resort to crime. At best, the son would inherit the organization. Of course, there was the matter of the family secret, but it was a trifle.

That's when his visor was pinged with a call. "Yes Ralph." Kenny queried, already having informed the informant of his interest in the undercover police agents.

"The agents are after the basement."

"And?"

"They may get the address."

"How?"

"They know an attendant."

"Who?"

"Some Plixis, judging by their heading."

"How do you know?" Kenny knew that this much information about police missions was unusual – usually only agents and whereabouts were known and motives stayed hidden.

"I intercepted a call between them and somebody very special."

"A special somebody?"

"Some chap in the REEBS corps. A Mark Nager."

"What?"

"Turns out that they're after your Levi for some reason."

"Silence this Plixis."

"Forever?"

"Do what you have to."

"Alright. Once that's done, how would you like to handle the police?"

"What can you do?"

"At best, eliminate."

"Too extreme." Kenny pondered as the chauffeur approached Trost's main highway – the fastest way out of the Walls region. "Maybe get us the one who talked to Nager."

"That will be done." Ralph sighed after hanging up. Gangsters were too demanding. He had his job. He was already in the position to silence Plixis – he was there pre-emptively, in case Kenny was inaccessible. Gangsters loved initiative, so it would not have cost Ralph anything if he killed Plixis unnecessarily. Now killing was an option. But Ralph was more creative.

Meeting Hernandez was not hard for the three teenagers. What was hard was getting him to comply. Somehow this Hernandez already knew where to go. If he knew all this – more than anybody else in the police force – why didn't he just do everything himself? It would have saved time, risk and manpower.

Now, on a tube train to Stratford – where they would find Plixis – the foursome were looking at Plixis' bio-data. He seemed to be an ordinary old man. He had had a lot of potential until alcohol robbed him of it. He was on his own – unmarried and without children. He only had friends – a small group of fellow old men who all had potential in the older days, but lost it through some trick of time.

"I guess we could start off as interested teenagers." Bertholdt said.

"Of course." Reiner seconded.

"But you should probably stay out of it." Annie pointedly told Hernandez.

"I'll wait outside the building." Hernandez agreed passively.

The train slowed for Stratford station. They exited to a parking lot – one Hernandez was too familiar with thanks to the events of the day – and exited through the rightmost street in front of them.

The road was a residential one, much like most of the roads. It had houses on either side for what the undercover agents estimated to be 450 metres and then an apartment building stuck out. It was brick and of a faecal, brown hue. It was hardly taller than the neighbouring house, having only three floors. It looked like poverty, like a place the real estate agent would put at the bottom of the list and call "an option."

The closer the four got to it, the more apparent the decrepit state became.

By the time the four approached the door, they had given up on enjoying their sort stay. Annie glanced at Hernandez, reminding him to stay outside.

The door opened to a small, dark hall, lit by an ancient flickering tube light. There were nine rectangular boxes on the left wall, next to which a door revealed an office for the building manager. As expected, nobody was there. Flat 8 was on the third floor and that meant that the agents would have to use the staircase which was next to the empty office's door. The steps were creaky, as expected, and dust was everywhere.

After two flights of creaking, the three reached the second floor's landing. Flat 8 was in front of them. The three stood with Annie in the middle and a step away from the door – in perfect form according to training.

An old man in a suit and tie – ready to go to work, seemingly - opened the door. It was not Plixis. "Excuse me sir, we're looking for Mr. Plixis." Annie did not miss a beat.

"I am he." The old man said as naturally.

"You look nothing like you did in the pictures of my uncle Plixis." Annie whined.

"Sorry sweetie, your uncle has mental problems and can't remember everything all that well. It's all the drinking, you see. But I got a makeover recently – hence the different appearance." The man's tone elicited an unfathomable umbrage in Annie.

"I'm Ann." She sighed, masking her anger.

"Ann… Ann. Yes, I think I remember you. Where's your mom or dad? And who are these other people?"

"They're friends, uncle."

"And where are your parents?"

"I'm old enough to go out on my own, uncle!" Annie released some of her anger.

"Well, I had hoped to see them."

"Isn't your dad downstairs?" Bertholdt chipped in.

"He is?" The old man's face lit up.

Annie sighed. "I'll call him." Hernandez was quick to respond. "Dad! Uncle Plixis wants to see you. I told you he would!" Annie called into her visor.

Annie soon hung up. "Is he on his way?" The old man asked enthusiastically.

"Yes." Annie said.

"You see, they're all equal to me – your parent's generation. I was wondering if you could tell me which one was it that fathered you."

"Uncle! God! I thought you'd remember that. It's Harry."

"Harry! Right! I had the 'H' on my tongue."

Hernandez reached the door. "Harry!" The old man pulled Hernandez into a hug. Hernandez made little effort to hide his discomfort.

"Come on in. All of you!" The old man welcomed the four to his flat. "So, how can I help you?" He closed the door behind him.

"Mr. Plixis, you are under arrest." Annie menacingly said.

"Whatever for, Ann? Come on, you're not even a police officer." The old man whined, taking a few steps towards Annie.

"I'm not Ann." Annie showed her badge.

"Pity, since detective Hernandez has already been injected with pleasant nano-bots."

"What?" Came a surprised cry from the four police officers.

"Well, since you were so willing to give up your cover, I thought I'd do away with mine." Ralph matter-of-factly said. "Not that I'd have recommended it."

"But the nano-bots?" Hernandez said.

"Not exactly. More like a sleeping poison. You have two more minutes."

"I'm calling your bluff. Now where's Plixis?" Annie said.

"No point with the bluff." Ralph pulled out a small needle from under his sleeve. "It's why you avoid family-related lies: there are too many excuses to be made, especially, in this case, for physical contact."

"What do you want?" Annie growled.

"To protect my client since Hernandez and he have a personal connection that I've been paid to manage."

Hernandez moaned. "I don't." He gasped.

"Yes, you see – the effects of the drug." Hernandez moaned more and then dozed off.

"But he said he's-" Reiner began.

"Point is simple: leave." Ralph said.

"No." Annie refused. "Tell us where the basement rave site is."

"I can't and my client will not either."

"Because we all really believe that he hired you."

"The guy maybe a drunkard, but he's not stupid."

"Give us the address."

"8 Heather Court in Barking."

"Really?"

"That's for you to decide."

"Fine."

"And I'm keeping Hernandez."

"No."

"Give me a reason not to." Annie pulled out a switchblade. "I'll require more convincing." Reiner and Bertholdt joined her. "Not yet, unfortunately." Ralph pulled out a gun.

Annie sighed. "Fucking regulations." She withdrew her blade. "Keep the twat. We'll be back later."

"My client will be informed." Ralph paced to the door, still holding the gun. Opening the door, but keeping his weapon trained on Annie, he added: "It's been a pleasure doing business with you."

The trio exited. "I'm calling reinforcements." Annie said.

"He'll have run." Reiner commented.

Annie growled in frustration. "Criminals, I say. Fucking police. The law should grow a pair."

"Calm down. We'll have him at some point." Bertholdt said in an attempt to pacify Annie.

Ralph opened the bedroom door in the apartment. Plixis moaned from behind the tape on his mouth. He was tied to the bed and had passively heard the entire interaction. "Listen and listen well. I am not a fan of repeating myself." Ralph said. The moaning ceased.

"Good." Ralph tested his captive's silence. "Now, hear me. You and the unconscious detective are to come with me to a designated safe house. My clients will meet you there and you will probably get off lightly. I recommend against helping the detective – for your sake." Another pause. "Understood." Plixis nodded the affirmative. "I'll untie you fully when we get there." Ralph pulled out a knife, cutting the tape around Plixis' legs and arms.

Plixis was sat and handcuffed to the back seat of Ralph's car. The detective was soon to join him, though still unconscious. "I wonder what those idiot undercover people got up to." Ralph mused as he pulled off, noting their absence.

Reiss was not expecting a call. Then again, he never expected any of his calls. Then he saw who the caller was. "Mr. Ackerman." He tersely picked up.

"Mr. Reiss." Came a gravelly reply.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I was just wondering how that search was going for those pesky murderers."

"I left it up to the police."

"Intriguing."

"Did you want to make a contribution?"

"Not yet. It just struck me as strange since I would not kill a scientist or have them killed."

"Understandable. I believe we have the same respect for the sciences."

"Oddly enough. I was merely telling you that you have my full support."

"Is that all?"

"At the moment."

"Thank you."

"Please, Mr. Reiss, the pleasure's all mine." The line died. Kenny sighed and glanced out of the window, happy that he was rapidly approaching the distant lights of New London.

 **(This is my longest chapter yet!**

 **I hope you all have liked every bit of this and I am very sorry for the 5-week hiatus.**

 **All that aside, I hope you loved the new plot that chapter 10 introduced - it will be continued, don't worry!**

 **Please review if you have any comments or desire any say in the fates of any of the characters.**

 **Have fun!)**


End file.
